Tutoring for Kagome
by phlawere
Summary: No longer a oneshot. How will Inuyasha and Shippo survive in Kagome's time?
1. Learning The Truth

Hey everyone! This was my first story ever, and it was supposed to be a oneshot, but I thought of a plot. It's gonna take a few chaps to get to it, but it'll be good. :) Ok, well, Inu doesn't belong to me. Sigh.

* * *

Youpai quickly exits the classroom and runs toward the entrance to the school. _I have to catch..._ As she rounds the corner, Youpai sees her. "Kagome!"

Kagome turns. _Youpai? _"Yes?" she says. The young miko waits patiently as her schoolmate jogs up to her, the girl's long ponytail swinging behind her, her dark blue eyes determined.

Panting slightly, Youpai says, "Kagome, I was wondering if you needed any help."

"What do you mean?" Kagome asks. She tries to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what the girl had to say.

Giving the young miko a stern look, Youpai says, "You know what I mean. Teacher says you've been having trouble in...well, everything--because you've been out of school so much."

Blushing, Kagome falters, "I'm doing ok..."

Youpai's voice gains more force as she places her hands on her hips. "Kagome. You're falling farther and farther behind. Aren't Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka helping you to study?"

"Um, well, they let me borrow their notes. And Hojo, too, sometimes... But they have other stuff going on and, uh, since I'm _sick_ at home so much..." Kagome trails off. She hopes Youpai won't press her for details. So far, none of her friends had found it odd that Kagome was sick so much, which was fortunate. But her luck had just run out.

_Something's strange here..._Youpai tells herself, giving Kagome a slightly confused look. Shrugging off the feeling, she says, "Well, all the teachers have asked me to help you, since I'm the top student in the class now that you've been out so much." Youpai puts her hand up when Kagome tries to protest. "And no point arguing. Nobody thinks it's fair to you that school is so rough simply because you're home most days and nobody has been explaining the material to you. So, since I'm doing well in all our subjects, I've been asked to, well, tutor you 3 days a week."

Kagome gives Youpai a horrified look before quickly covering it with a smile. The girl hesitates a few seconds before she agrees. "Okay--I guess the extra studying would help a lot with getting me caught up. Do you want to start tonight?" Kagome asks, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Yeah, that's sounds good to me. I'll see you after dinner--about 7 or so?" Youpai replies. _What was that look she gave me?_

"That's fine--see you then, Youpai. Thanks!" Kagome waves as she walks away.

"I'd better go figure out some kind of system...flashcards maybe..." Youpai continues mumbling to herself as she walks back to class.

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Walking with her head down, Kagome is watching her shoes hit the sidewalk when a pair of bare feet and red hakamas suddenly come into view. She sighs before looking up. "Hello, Inuyasha."

"Are you ready to go yet?" Inuyasha asks rather rudely.

Kagome doesn't know whether to be annoyed or pleased that he came to meet her instead of waiting at home, so she settles for sticking her tongue out at him before replying. "I can't yet. I'm having a...tutoring...session tonight, which brings up a much bigger problem."

Annoyed and slightly confused, Inuyasha growls and fixes the baseball cap that is slipping over his eyes before asking, "What's the problem and what's this tu-tor-ing? Can't you just blow it off?"

Kagome sighs again as they begin walking. "Tutoring is...it means that someone who knows something helps another person to understand it, usually with schoolwork. Tonight a girl from school is coming to help me, because I keep getting farther and farther behind, what with going back and forth to the Feudal Era all the time."

Inuyasha grunts. "Feh. What's so important about school anyway?"

Kagome rolls her eyes and, with an annoyed look on her face, says, "I've told you before, Inuyasha. People in this time don't have to do what their parents did. They can work at any job they're willing to put in the time, effort, and in a lot of cases, many more years of school than what I have now. Some jobs you can't even get without a high school diploma. So unless you're going to take care of me in the future, I have to keep up with school!" the miko ends vehemently.

Inuyasha blushes, looking flabbergasted, and mumbles something under his breath before looking at his feet.

"What?!" Kagome asks, rather loudly.

"Nothing," Inuyasha says, sourly. "Then, so what's the big problem?"

"The problem with Youpai tutoring me...," Kagome says, "...is that she's supposed to come over 3 times a week."

"WHAT?!?!" Inuyasha yells, startling nearby pedestrians. Kagome cringes as Inuyasha continues. "But...but you can't come back that much! We'd never find the jewel shards before Naraku does!" he says angrily.

"I know!" Kagome yells back. Her voice softens a little before she goes on. "But everyone except mom, Gramps, and Sota think that I've been sick and laid up at home. Nobody else knows about the Feudal Era." Inuyasha continues to scowl at her. "I...I think I'm going to have to tell her the truth about why I'm missing school."

Inuyasha's face goes pale before turning a deeper shade of red than before. He looks as if he's going to explode again before Kagome quickly continues.

"I know I said that nobody else should know. It's still not a good idea---people would think...I don't know what they'd think, but telling just anyone that I travel 500 years into the past through the well at our family's shrine is not a good idea." Kagome lets her breathe out slowly before going on. "I don't know how long we could keep it a secret from her, either. If I just didn't show up, Youpai will get suspicious, and would eventually tell the school that I'm never home, which could lead to trouble for mom and Gramps. I'm far enough behind that 3 times a week isn't an unreasonable amount of time to have asked for, and we're meeting at my house because everyone thinks I'm sick, or dying, or something..." Kagome lets her voice trail off_. Apparently no one is worried about Youpai getting sick...I knew I should have started home schooling..._ she thinks, making a disgusted face.

Kagome looks at Inuyasha, who has calmed down some, and now has a intense look on his face. "Can we trust her?" he asks.

The miko is shocked. She thought Inuyasha would be against telling anyone else about the well---not asking serious questions. She thinks about it for a minute before replying. "...yes. I've known her as long as Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka, though I've never been as close to her as the others. She's honest and smart--she should be able to..._deal_ with the news. As long as she doesn't think we've lost our minds and actually believes us."

"Us?" Inuyasha asks, one eyebrow raised.

Kagome replies with a slightly devilish look in her eyes. "Of course. What better way to convince Youpai than to introduce her to someone who is actually from the Feudal Era?" she ends, smiling widely.

Inuyasha rolls his eyes at her. "Feh. Whatever."

"Come on. I'll race you home," Kagome says as she takes off running.

Inuyasha stares dumbly after her. _Is she kidding?_ he asks himself before bounding after her.

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"Thanks mom--dinner was really good. Just send Youpai up when she gets here," Kagome says as she and Inuyasha head upstairs to her room.

"Ok, dear. Good luck," Kagome's mom replies, before walking back into the kitchen.

"Well, do you want to be in the room when I tell her, or just come in the window and scare her to death after I've finished?" Kagome says sarcastically. The half-demon narrows his eyes at the girl and sticks out his tongue, as payback for earlier. Kagome stares at him a moment before she starts laughing. _He should do stuff like that more often--it suits him_... Inuyasha smiles before quickly returning to his usual scowl. "Seriously though, it will probably be better if you're there from the beginning, so she can see that you're...fairly...normal, and I haven't just made everything up," Kagome says.

The girl gets another tongue shot for this comment--to which she smiles--before Inuyasha growls and says, "Whatever. Anything so that we can go back as soon as possible."

Kagome rolls her eyes at him as she enters her room. _Typical Inuyasha--always ready to go. Why can't he ever just enjoy the down time we have? Who knows how long it'll be before we're able to rest without worrying? I feel bad for the others--they never get to relax like this. Maybe I'll take them some chocolate, and some bath stuff for Sango, and..._

_I hope it doesn't take long to convince this girl--Naraku could already have more of the jewel shards! _Inuyasha thinks angrily to himself. _Although..._the hanyou glances at Kagome as she walks into her room..._maybe staying a __**little**__ longer isn't so bad..._

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

A soft knocking on her bedroom door gets Kagome's attention. "Come in," she says. "Hi, Youpai."

"Hey, Kagome," Youpai replies. Her smile falters slightly as she notices a boy with long silver-white hair covered by a baseball cap sitting cross-legged on Kagome's bed. He's wearing bright red old-style clothing, a sword, and a scowl. _He looks familiar somehow... _"Who's this?" Youpai asks, puzzled. She thought she and Kagome were going to study alone, so that they could get more covered.

Kagome introduces them. "Youpai, this is Inuyasha. Inuyasha, Youpai."

"Hello, Inuyasha. Nice to meet you," Youpai says politely.

Inuyasha gets a death-stare from Kagome before replying. "Nice to meet you, Youpai," as though he's just been forced to eat pickled demon's foot.

_What's that about? It's like he's being forced to be nice._... Youpai thinks to herself, raising her brow in surprise.

The miko aims a glare at the hanyou before she turns to the other girl. "Um, Youpai, I--we, have something to tell you. And, it's, uh...we're not going to get much studying done tonight."

Youpai frowns and drops her schoolbag and books onto the floor. "It's that important that we'd lose a night of studying?"

"Yes," Kagome and Inuyasha respond bluntly.

Youpai is surprised at how resolutely they answered. _What do they have to tell me?_ She looks at Inuyasha before asking, "Not to sound rude, but what is Inuyasha doing here anyway?" The half-demon narrows his eyes at her but doesn't respond.

Kagome smiles weakly before saying, "Moral support."

Now Youpai is confused and slightly alarmed. _What could be so important?_

Kagome pulls her jewel shards from the inside of her uniform and holds them up for Youpai to see. "Ever hear of the Shikon Jewel?"

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_This is not going well_... Kagome says to herself.

Youpai was looking back and forth between her and Inuyasha, with a look that said she thought both of them needed to be on medication

_This can't...it's not...there's __**no**__ way_... Youpai shakes her head to clear these thoughts before saying in a shaky voice, "Assume that I believe your..._story_. You had to know I'd want proof--right?" The girl ends the question in a pleading tone--as if she hopes this is all a very bad dream.

Kagome turns to Inuyasha, who sighs while removing the baseball cap and raising his hands to show his claws. _I hope she doesn't scream too loudly..._

The scream never comes. Youpai stares wide-eyed at Inuyasha's ears, which he twitches toward the window as they hear thunder in the distance. _How did he? They're real?! _Surprise turns to outright astonishment as Youpai gawks at him. Gingerly she asks, "Can I touch them?"

Kagome laughs out loud while Inuyasha scowls. "Um, he doesn't like to have his ears touched," the miko says while trying to stiffle her giggles.

"Ohh..."

Youpai looks so depressed that Kagome starts laughing again.

Inuyasha snorts as if he's finally had enough of this talk before hopping onto the windowsill. "I'll meet you at the well," he utters, effortlessly dropping to the ground.

Youpai's face goes back to her earlier shock as she runs to the window. "Is he gonna...?" She stops her question as she notices Inuyasha stalking across the yard. "He's...he's...ok?" she asks, looking down the two-story drop.

"Half-demon," Kagome responds while shrugging. "There's a lot more to him--but trust me, you'll be grateful if you never see it." Youpai turns to her with a confused look, but Kagome just says, "He can have a temper sometimes."

"Oh." Youpai looks once more at Inuyasha before turning back. "Can I see your well now?"

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Kagome, Inuyasha, Youpai, and Sota each stand on one side of the well. "Why is your brother here, Kagome?" Inuyasha asks, his arms crossed and a sour expression on his face.

"Because he can't go through the well, either. If Sota's standing next to Youpai when we, uh, disappear, she'll be less likely to...freak out," Kagome says while smiling weakly at Youpai, who is frowning.

"Come on sis," Sota whines. "I got people to kill and cars to blow up," he says while making machine-gun noises while shooting an invisible gun.

_Huh? Kill people? _Inuyasha looks at Sota with a very puzzled frown on his face.

Noticing the hanyou's expression, Kagome says, "His video game. He's been stuck in the same spot for days."

"Have not," Sota pouts.

"So, should Sota and I jump, or...?" Youpai queries while looking down into the darkness.

"No, that's not a good idea. Inuyasha and I would be...transported if we jumped, but you two would just hit the bottom of the well, and, uh, I've done it before--it's definitely not fun falling 15 feet into darkness," Kagome responds. Youpai gives her an alarmed look before Kagome hurredly goes on. "That's why we installed the ladder on the inside, for when I have to make several trips with supplies, or when I'm coming back. I can't jump like Inuyasha, you know."

Looking annoyed, the hanyou says, "Let's get this over with. We need to get back soon."

Kagome rolls her eyes before whispering to Youpai. "He's very impatient--can you tell?" The girls stifle their giggles as the boy scowls. "And he also has excellent hearing," the miko adds with a smile. "Okay, Sota. You and Youpai climb down first, and Inuyasha and I will follow, so that when we step onto the bottom, we'll be transported and you two will stay here. Sound good?"

Youpai nervously agrees. "Yeah, I guess."

"Sure, sis. Hey, you guys wanna bring something back--like, uh, flowers or something to show that you actually went somewhere?" Sota asks.

"Hey, that's a good idea Sota," Kagome says while ruffling his hair. "When did you start using that head of yours?" The boy pushes her hand off his head, but beams at his sister.

"Inuyasha, what could we bring back?" she asks.

The half-demon gives her an impatient look, but says, "The cherry trees on the other side are blooming, yeah? And the ones outside here aren't yet, so we could bring a few of the blossoms back to show Youpai."

Kagome stares at the half-demon for a few seconds before ruffling his hair. "When did you start using _your_ head, Inuyasha?" she asks, while Sota and Youpai giggle behind their hands.

Inuyasha glares at Kagome but doesn't move her hand away. The other two exchange a look before Sota says, "I'll go down first." He hooks one leg over the edge of the well and begins to descend. Kagome immediately jerks her hand back to her side as Youpai starts heading down the well. Inuyasha goes next, glancing quickly back at Kagome, who closely follows.

When they are almost to the bottom, Inuyasha lifts the miko onto his shoulder and jumps the rest of the way down. Kagome smiles and says, "See you in a few minutes."

A flash of blue light temporarily blinds Youpai and Sota. When they open their eyes, Inuyasha and Kagome have vanished.

---------------------------------------------------

Youpai stares. _But...it's...actually..._ Sota smiles.

"See? Isn't it cool? I wish I could go...," he says wistfully. He stares at the ground for a few seconds, his eyes unfocused. "We'd better climb up on the ladder or it's gonna get crowded in here in a minute...," the boy finally says, snapping out of his trance.

Youpai nods numbly as she and Sota start to climb. Less than a minute later, another blinding blue light appears. When Youpai looks down, standing at the bottom of the well are Inuyasha and Kagome, 3 cherry blossoms sitting on her upturned palm.

The half-demon catches the girl when she faints.

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Youpai wakes up in Kagome's bed, a glass of water on the nightstand beside her, sitting next to the cherry blossoms. She looks out the window. _No blossoms...here..._

Kagome and Inuyasha are standing over her with worried expressions on their faces. "Are you okay?" she asks, handing her the water.

Youpai takes a sip before asking, "How long was I out?"

"Only about 10 minutes," Inuyasha replies. "Sota's getting something for you to eat."

"I'm fine," Youpai tells Kagome, seeing her still-concerned gaze.

Kagome visibly relaxes. "Umm, so uh,...since you've seen...uh, everything..."

"Are you gonna help us or not?" Inuyasha interrupts. Kagome hits him on the arm before turning pleading eyes back to Youpai.

_It...must be so hard for her..._Youpai thinks to herself. _She has all the responsibilities that ordinary girls our age have, plus... she's...they're... off...battling, too...how can I..._

Youpai looks back and forth between the two of them and the cherry blossoms before picking one up. She inhales its sweet fragrance before slowly smiling at the two of them.

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Kagome was going back again. Since Youpai had agreed to keep their secret, the two of them had met to study on Saturday and Sunday, every other week. It wasn't much, but the miko was slowly catching up to her classmates, and her grades were getting better. Still not good, but better.

Inuyasha admired Youpai. She covered for Kagome, telling their teachers that studying was still difficult because Kagome was so sick all the time. Having some of the stress off the girl made everyone happier, and Youpai had accepted Inuyasha as he was. He came back with Kagome almost everytime she had tutoring, and she always treated him exactly like Kagome did, minus the 'sit' command--though Youpai had tried it once or twice when Inuyasha had gotten 'uppity,' as she liked to call it.

"You coming, Inuyasha?" Kagome yells. Inuyasha smiles to himself. Yes, he was glad he had let Kagome do this tu-to-ring thing.

* * *

See? Oneshot, but not anymore... 


	2. Changes

Ok, chap #2. I know this one's kinda...blah, but I needed to explain some things and get others out of the way. It'll be better next chap, I promise. O, well...um, yeah...

* * *

"What's the quadratic formula again?" Kagome asks. She and Youpai were almost finished with the example questions their algebra teacher had given them. Their first test after the holidays was to be the next Friday. The two students just had one last problem to finish. Kagome sighs. _Then we get to look up amino acids...Ugh, I hate Chemistry. _

Kagome was now 16 and was in her third year of high school--and it was all thanks to Youpai. The girl had helped Kagome catch up to her classmates over the course of the end of last year and the previous summer. She was also making sure that Kagome didn't fall too far behind when she was in _Sengoku_ _Jidai_, chasing jewel shards. The young miko didn't realize how much she had missed before Youpai started tutoring her.

It had taken the girls several months to figure out what Kagome had missed and get her up to her grade level. They also set up a system the miko could use on her own to keep up. It worked fairly well; Youpai usually only had to clarify certain points and make sure Kagome was doing her homework the way she was supposed to. The schoolgirl had an uncanny ability to predict what their teachers were going to cover, and assigned that work to Kagome before she was even sure herself. Most of the time she was right, but Youpai had told the miko a long time ago that 'it doesn't hurt to be ahead.' Kagome had found her words to be true, especially when she missed a weekend of tutoring. If she was already ahead, it didn't deal a tremendous blow to her grades to miss a session. And Kagome needed to keep her grades up.

Talk of colleges was already circling among the juniors, who was going to apply to where, and what scholarships they should try for. Kagome had been depressed until Youpai pointed out that graduation was still a year-and-a-half away, and that should be plenty of time to finish finding the jewel shards so she could get back to a normal life. The young priestess had smiled at the girl who was now her closest girl friend besides Sango, but college wasn't what was upsetting her. Kagome didn't know what she was going to do after they reassembled the Sacred Jewel and vanquished Naraku. She didn't know what Inuyasha was going to do.

The half-demon had been acting strangely of late, especially after Kohaku had died a month ago. Sango didn't speak for week, but--fortunately--the siblings had already discussed what they wanted before he had died. Neither of them could ever forget that the boy had killed his father and friends, and injured his sister--even though he was under another's control. If Kohaku was to use the completed jewel to live, that would always be a truth that neither could deal with. So the two slayers had decided quite a while ago that if his jewel shard was taken, Kohaku wouldn't be revived. And it was taken last month.

Naraku had lured them into a trap designed to take Kohaku's and Koga's shards. The evil half-demon had the rest of the jewel in his possession, and would have completed it if Kohaku hadn't sacrificed himself. Naraku had injured the wolf-demon and was bearing down to strip him of the shards in his legs, when the boy took a flying leap onto the hanyou from behind, distracting Naraku long enough to let Koga escape to safety. He had locked eyes with his sister, silently telling her 'goodbye' before Naraku took the shard from his shoulder. Sango, Inuyasha, and Kagome had each thrown an attack at the half-demon, disintigrating the hanyou, but not killing him--unfortunately. Kohaku had simply floated away, and Sango had been silent for almost a week afterwards. She finally came back to them, a more determined look in her eyes. Then Inuyasha started acting strange. After Koga, that is.

The silver-haired hanyou was his normal self during the week Sango was depressed, except that he was staying closer to Kagome than usual. The miko didn't really think anything of it until they were talking about the upcoming holidays. The rest of the group was already asleep, and Kagome had made an off-hand remark about mistletoe, explaining what the custom was in her time regarding the red-berried plant. Inuyasha had looked at her strangely, even going so far as to put his arm around her shoulders and pull her into a hug before the girl freaked out and removed herself, saying that she needed to get to sleep. The hanyou had looked slightly upset, but let the girl retreat to her sleeping bag. Kagome had spent the next half-hour going over the event in her mind, wondering if Inuyasha was finally willing to admit that he had _some_ feelings for her. Kagome finally decided that he was, since Kikyo had died two months earlier.

Naraku was responsible for her death, too. The miko had been traveling with Kohaku, protecting him and purifying his jewel shard. The half-demon had caught Kikyo off-guard, as she hadn't been able to absorb any souls in a few days, and was therefore weakened. She was able to drive Naraku away, but not before she was severely injured. No one could save her--not even Kagome, who had recently discovered healing powers. The only good thing was that she was able to be with Inuyasha in her last moments, which allowed both of them a sense of closure that they hadn't had before. Kohaku had traveled with their group until running into Naraku again a month later.

The only shards not in Naraku's possession were the ones Koga had held, and Kagome had convinced him to give them to her. She had had to kiss the wolf to get them, which Inuyasha was not the least bit thrilled about. It took Ginta, Hakkaku, Miroku, and Sango to keep him from killing the demon. He was furious and didn't speak to Kagome for a couple of days, until she pointed out that he had done the same to Kikyo, and that Kagome had only done it to get the shards. Inuyasha had started talking to her the next day, and begun hovering shortly after.

Kagome--finished with her math problem--waits for Youpai to write her answer before they compare results. The miko lets her mind wander to the hanyou, remembering the look she had seen in his eyes when she came back to her time the day before. He normally came with her, but said that he needed to talk to Miroku this time. Kagome had been slightly depressed-- which she was pretty sure Inuyasha knew about--but had covered it with a smile. He had hugged her, keeping eye contact as they broke apart. They had stared at each other for several moments before the half-demon had said she'd better go, hesitating a second before kissing her on the forehead and turning away. Kagome had stood there for a full minute, watching the boy walk away, her mouth open slightly in shock. She finally recovered enough to jump into the well, coming back to her own time. She had already told Youpai what had happened, but they hadn't had time to discuss it between their studies.

"Thinking about Inuyasha again?" Youpai asks as she pulls Kagome's paper over to check her answer. "You worked this the right way, Kagome, but the quadratic formula has a 'b2,' not just a 'b,' " she says, handing the paper back. The miko takes the paper and makes the necessary changes, holding it up for the other girl to see. Youpai nods, and the two girls change their math work for chemistry.

"Yeah. You and Sango are the only ones I can talk to about him," Kagome says, blushing a little. Youpai grins at her before flipping to the back of her book to look up amino acids.

"I think he's starting to come around, though, from what you said about the other day. Remember when you told me about the well? It was kind of obvious then that there was more than friendship between you and Inuyasha," Youpai says, pulling the elastic band out of her hair and running her fingers through the long, dark locks. They come all the way to the floor, spreading out on top of some of the books piled around her and Kagome.

"Maybe, but there was always Kikyo," Kagome says, staring down at her book. She sighs, poking at some of the chemical formulas with her pencil.

"Yes. But Kikyo's gone now," Youpai points out. "I think we should write out all the names and formulas, then the structures," she says, referring to their studies.

"Okay," Kagome says softly, flipping several pages in her book. She starts to slow down, her eyes becoming unfocused.

"What?"

"It's only...Kikyo had to die for Inuyasha to start thinking about me that way. Seriously, at least. I don't blame him, though--it has to be hard, having feelings for two people. But what if she comes back? When we defeat Naraku and complete the jewel, we could do it--bring Kikyo back to life. What if that's what Inuyasha wants to do?" Kagome asks, her voice catching.

Youpai looks up from her notes. "You're going to give it to him, then?"

Kagome nods. "Yes. Kikyo was going to, and I know him well enough now to trust that he won't do something stupid with it."

"What if he still wants to become a full demon?"

Kagome looks down, a saddened expression on her face. "If that's what he wants. But Inuyasha knows that we'll have no choice if he can't control the transformation," she whispers.

Youpai sees a single tear slide down the other girl's cheek. Kagome had told her pretty much everything about her adventures in the Feudal Era, including the hanyou's demon transformations. She knew that he lost his human heart when he changed, and couldn't control his demon blood, killing anything he could get his claws on. Thankfully, that level of rage had only happened once, and Sesshomaru had been there to stop it. Inuyasha himself had decided not to allow the change anymore, and--with a few exceptions--he had been able to control it. But Kagome wasn't sure if he had given up on the idea of using the jewel to transform into a full demon. The hanyou already knows that she, Miroku, and Sango can't let him rampage around the countryside if he ends up losing his heart. They would have to kill their friend.

"I don't think I could do it," Kagome says, wiping her sleeve across her cheek. "I know I told the others that I could, but if it comes down to me or Inuyasha...he'll win."

Youpai frowns at her. "It won't be Inuyasha anymore," she says softly. Kagome looks up, her eyes misting over again.

"I know," she murmurs. Youpai has to read the girl's lips--she's speaking too low for her to hear the words. Kagome turns her head to the window, watching a pair of bluebirds sing to one another in the branches of the tree outside. She sighs. "Let's get back to our schoolwork-- it's much less complicated," she says, finding the correct page in her book.

Youpai hesitates a moment before nodding, staring down at the notes she had taken the week before. The pair spends the next two hours doing their chemistry work. Kagome has just finished the last question and is stetching her legs when she suddenly frowns and doubles over, clutching her ribs.

"What's wrong?" Youpai asks, standing up beside her friend and gingerly touching her side.

"I...I don't know. It's...it's not me...," she says, panting slightly. The miko closes her eyes for a second, reopening them when the pain subsides a few moments later. Kagome stands up straight and walks to her window, staring at the well-house. She frowns again. "I need to go--something's wrong," she says, turning around and heading out of her bedroom. Youpai follows.

"What? How do you know?" she asks.

"I...just do," Kagome replies, opening the front door. "No telling how long I'll be...maybe we should just plan to meet again tomorrow?" Youpai nods and closes the door after Kagome, a worried expression on her face.

The young priestess enters the well-house, hopping down the stairs. She's about to jump in the well when she notices her bow and quiver lying in a shadowy corner. _Where did those come from? I thought I left them in the Feudal Era..._ Kagome walks over and picks up her weapon before returning to the well and traveling back in time.

---------------------------------

_What? Why is it dark in here?_ Kagome asks herself. The girl is kneeling in the bottom of the well, but where there would normally be light shining down, there's only darkness. _I can't even see any stars, so it's not night..._ The miko stifles a gasp as she hears a hateful voice above her.

"Where is she, Inuyasha!? The priestess with the last two shards? I know she's around here somewhere; you wouldn't let her go off on her own," the voice says, a sickly sweet familiarity to it.

Kagome clenches her jaw in anger. _Naraku...that's Naraku..._ The girl's eyes widen as she realizes that the half-demon is blocking the top of the well. _He must be in his true form...to be able to cover this much of the well..._

"You won't find Kagome, you evil bastard! You can't touch her!"

Kagome smiles as she recognizes Inuyasha's voice. The girl hears a deep rumbling fromabove her, frowning as she realizes that Naraku is laughing. _Why is he...?_ She stifles a scream as she hears a yell from Inuyasha.

"AAARRGGGHH!!"

Kagome hears a crash, which sounds something like a tree breaking in half. The girl bites down on the inside of her cheek, refusing to make a sound. Naraku hadn't noticed her yet, and she wasn't about to let him know she was there. Quickly wiping away the tears forming in her eyes, the miko looks up, focusing her energy on finding the _Shikon no Tama_ she knows Naraku is carrying. It takes her a few moments, as the jewel has been tainted black by the hanyou's evil, but Kagome eventually pinpoints its location, right in the center of the demon, where his heart would be. If he had one, that is.

Kagome pulls an arrow from her quiver, notching it as silently as she can. She hears another yell from Inuyasha, then a crash, and more laughing from Naraku.

"I'll take care of you, _Inuyasha_, then I'll find that miko of yours. And I won't let her die as quickly as you have. She will suffer the same fate as Kikyo," Naraku says, chuckling.

Kagome listens for a response from Inuyasha, but she doesn't hear one. Stifling her panic, the girl idly wonders where everyone else is before she takes aim at the jewel. _My only hope is to purify it...being evil, Naraku can't possibly keep it inside him. Can he?_

Kagome prays that she's doing the right thing before she summons all the power she can, forcing more and more into the arrow she's holding. A bright blue light begins to flow around it, lighting the dark space at the bottom of the well. Kagome concentrates on the jewel, keeping both eyes focused on the tiny glimmering orb several feet above her. Taking a deep breath, she releases the arrow...

--------------------------------

Inuyasha is lying on his stomach, Tetsusaiga by his side. He's glaring at the enormous demon hovering over the well, blocking him off from Kagome. _Stay there, Kagome...don't come back..._

Inuyasha knows that there's little chance of that happening, as it's only the second day she's been gone, and the girl almost never came back early. He silently thanks Kami for that habit of hers, before attempting to stand again.

The hanyou has a huge gash in his right side, and he can't use his left arm. He's pretty sure he's got some broken ribs, and that bruises are already starting to form on his legs and arms. Silently cursing himself for letting his guard down, Inuyasha only makes it to his knees before the pain gets to him, and he stops, panting. _Idiot! You were thinking about what Miroku said, and weren't paying attention..._ It takes the half-demon a moment to realize Naraku is speaking to him again.

"...miko of yours. And I won't let her die as quickly as you have. She will suffer the same fate as Kikyo," he says, laughing again.

Inuyasha grinds his teeth together, trying again to stand. He only succeeds for a few seconds before falling back to the ground, panting heavily and spitting blood. He sees Naraku smile wickedly before something else catches his eye. A blue glow is coming fom beneath the other demon. His eyes widening, Inuyasha watches as the light gets brighter and brighter...

--------------------------

_Troublesome half-demon..._ Naraku thinks, grinning as he watches the other hanyou lying on the ground. _One more hit, I think.. Then I can find that girl, and I'll have the whole..._

Naraku raises one long, sickly green tentacle, aiming for the boy before him. He's about to stab it through the silver-haired half-demon when he notices that Inuyasha is not looking at his face, but at something below him. Frowning, Naraku looks down, his eyes widening as he realizes seconds too late that the girl was in the well...

-------------------

Inuyasha covers his head as Kagome's arrow connects with the Sacred Jewel, purifying it and obliterating Naraku. He gapes at the space the demon had occupied, watching pieces of the youkai slowly float away on the breeze. Staring at the opening, he watches Kagome slowly climb out of the well, looking around in wonder before her eyes land on him, a horrified expression crossing her features. She quickly jumps out, dropping her weapon and running over to him.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha! Are you okay?" Kagome asks, tears streaming down her cheeks. She turns him over, resting his head in her lap. The half-demon doesn't answer; he just looks up at her with pain-filled eyes. "Inuyasha?"

The hanyou closes his eyes, Kagome's sweet voice the last thing he hears before losing consciousness.

* * *

See? Semi-blah. But next chapbetter. :P 


	3. Mistake?

Hello everyone. Here's chap 3, for those who made it past #2. Little bit of fluff for ya, since there's not gonna be any for a long time. There's gonna be, shall we say...the opposite of fluff. Inu doesn't belong to me. :(

_

* * *

_

_Huh? Where am I?_

The silver-haired hanyou opens his eyes, taking a few minutes to adjust to the darkness inside the hut. Inuyasha's gaze roams over the sleeping forms of his friends: the hoshin, the tajiya, the nekomata, the kitsune, the elder miko. The hanyou frowns when he realizes the one person he was looking for wasn't there. He turns his head and gasps. She _was_ there. Inuyasha couldn't see her because his head was resting in her lap.

The half-demon lifts his eyes to the young priestesses' face, his gaze softening as he watches her sleeping. The boy smiles to himself. _She'd kill me if she knew..._

Inuyasha tries to raise his left arm, stopping suddenly as he realizes Kagome's is lying across his, her hand resting on his bandaged torso. He frowns slightly, tilting his head to find her other arm. His eyes widen in surprise; her other hand is cupping the top of his head, her fingers gently wrapped around one fuzzy ear. The hanyou makes a strained face, wondering what to think of this. He finally smiles and lifts his free arm from his side.

Inuyasha clenches his teeth as a wave of nausea and pain flood through him. He gasps, trying to catch his breath before continuing his mission. The boy takes several minutes to do it, but finally succeeds in placing his palm against Kagome's cheek, his thumb running softly over her skin, her face pale from the moonlight shining into the hut. Inuyasha keeps his dark golden eyes on the miko, smiling to himself as he reviews the features he had memorized so long ago. The girl's eyes suddenly flutter and open, a pink tinge crossing her cheeks as she notices the boy's hand. The hanyou freezes.

"Hey. You're awake. How do you feel?" she whispers, bringing her hand up and placing it on top of his. Inuyasha stares at their intertwined fingers, blushing a little as he meets the girl's gaze.

"Okay. Sore, but I should be fine in a few days," he answers, making an attempt to sit up. He grimaces as another wave of nausea and even more pain wash over his senses, making the boy fall back into the miko's lap with a soft grunt. Inuyasha looks up at the girl's worried expression. "Maybe more like a week," he whispers, wrapping his fingers around the girl's and placing them on his chest. He sighs, closing his eyes.

Kagome smiles. "It's over--you know. Naraku's gone. The Jewel's complete," she says, moving her free arm to the collar of her shirt and removing the _Shikon no tama_. Inuyasha opens his eyes and focuses them on the pink, glittering orb. He frowns.

"What do we do with it?"

Kagome smiles again. "That would be for you to decide," she whispers. "It's yours now, Inuyasha." The miko pulls her hand away from his and gently loops the necklace holding the jewel over the half-demon's neck. He stares at her in astonishment.

"M...me?"

The girl nods. "Yep. I decided a long time ago that you were gonna have it. Kikyo was going to give it to you, and I don't see any reason why that should change." Kagome grins at the flustered look on Inuyasha's face. "Just...be careful with it. I'd hate to have to go wandering around after shards again."

The hanyou lies there for a moment before glaring at her. "What does that mean?" he asks angrily. Kagome raises her brow in surprise. Inuyasha was being almost vicious.

"I just mean...that we...can get back to normal. Back to our lives," she says, frowning at the hanyou.

Inuyasha stares at her for another minute before turning away. "Right...," he mumbles, moving his hand up to finger the jewel for a few seconds before placing it back on his stomach.

Kagome is confused. _Isn't...that what we wanted? To defeat Naraku, complete the jewel, and be able to live our lives? _The girl slowly brings her hand up and cups Inuyasha's chin, forcing the boy to look at her. "What's wrong, Inuyasha? I thought this was what we wanted."

The half-demon watches the miko with sad eyes before sighing. "I thought so, too," he replies, trying to sit up again. He growls when the pain assaults him and he drops back into the girl's lap.

Kagome frowns, her brow furrowed again as she thinks. It suddenly hits her why the hanyou is acting this way. "Inuyasha? You...you don't think...we're going to leave. Do you?" she asks, slight surprise on her face.

Inuyasha glances up at her. "No...," he says, not convincingly. He sighs again and turns his head away from her. Kagome shakes hers before gently laying her palm against the boy's cheek and turning him toward her. The half-demon refuses to meet her gaze.

"Look at me, Inuyasha," she says quietly. He holds out for a minute or so before bringing his eyes to the miko's. Kagome has to bite her tongue to keep from crying out at the sadness in the golden eyes. She smiles at him, leaning closer to the boy. "Silly hanyou. We're family now; we're not going anywhere." Kagome hesistates a second before bending even closer to the half-demon. She sees his eyes widen and smiles again. "_I'm _not going anywhere," the girl whispers, grazing her lips over his.

Inuyasha stares at the miko, his breath catching in his throat. He sees Kagome hovering over him--her lips _almost_ touching his--waiting. The hanyou watches the girl's eyes, hoping that he's reading her expression the right way before he slowly lifts his head, closing the distance between them. Tentative, at first, the pair slowly deepens their contact, closing their eyes in the process. Inuyasha feels the girl snake one arm around his neck and place the other to his cheek, her fingers lightly caressing his skin as they continue their embrace.

After what seems to the hanyou to be an unreasonably short period of time, Kagome pulls away, her face flushed somewhat, her eyes now open and dark. Inuyasha takes several shallow breaths before opening his eyes half-way to gaze at her.

"You'd better not," he murmurs, reaching out for the girl and guiding her back to him.

----------------------

Kagome climbs out of the well, humming to herself, a huge grin gracing her features. Youpai had understood the miko's need to stay with Inuyasha while he was healing, especially after Kagome had told her friend what had happened the night before.

Youpai had been almost as ecstatic as Kagome had, hugging the girl so tightly that the miko had to ask her to stop so she could breathe. The tutor had skipped away from the Shrine, saying they could meet again the next weekend.

Kagome looks up at the Goshinboku as she heads for Kaede's village, altering her path so that she'll walk by the tree. She felt a sudden urge to visit the place where she had first seen Inuyasha. _Where I first __**felt**..._

Kagome stops abruptly as she notices the hanyou standing in front of the Tree of Ages. She gapes, staring in horror and astonishment at the scene before her.

Underneath the Sacred Tree, hovering a few feet off the ground next to Inuyasha, was Kikyo. The half-demon is looking up at the dead miko, the Jewel sitting serenely on his palm. The priestess is surrounded by a blue-white glow, her eyes are closed, her dark hair is floating around her. Kagome forces herself to look at the boy, noticing the peaceful look on his face as he talks to his lover.

The young miko turns back around and leans against the tree, one hand clutching her chest. It hurts to breathe...to think. Kagome bites her bottom lip as tears start to fall down her cheeks. She digs the nails of her free hand into the bark of the tree, trying to make her body take some of the pain she was feeling inside. It doesn't work. She bows her head, silent tears disappearing into the leaves at her feet, her shoulders shaking as she sobs.

_How...could he? Last night...how...how could I have been so naive? So...stupid? He doesn't want me. He's __**never**__ wanted me. It was her...he was seeing. It's always been her. It will __**always**__ be her..._

Kagome looks up, just seeing the well through the trees. She slowly pushes herself upright and staggers in that direction, almost falling several times before she breaks the treeline. The girl continues on, not even seeing her friends making their way toward her. They call out, but the miko can't hear for the despair ringing in her ears. She makes it to the well and leans over the edge, staring blankly at nothing. Somehow she hears her name being called, and turns toward the voice. Kagome takes one last look at the man who had shattered her heart before falling forward into the darkness.

------------------------

"KAGOME!"

_No..._

Inuyasha makes a mad dash for the Bone-Eater's Well, but he already knows it's too late. He comes to a sliding stop as a blindingly-bright white orb flies out of the well, heading back in the direction he had just come. The hanyou pales as he watches the sphere disappear into the forest before he jumps over the edge of the well, ignoring the confused looks of his friends.

He lands on the bottom with a sickening crunch, feeling one of the bones in his foot snap. Inuyasha ignores it, digging frantically at the dirt with his claws, tears starting to form in his eyes.

_No...no..._

The hanyou slowly stops his movements, dropping to his hands and knees, his forehead touching the cool earth, his tears sliding off his cheeks to fill the trenches left by his claws.

_Kagome..._

Inuyasha sobs, picturing the face of the girl he loved. It wasn't her normal, happy, smiling face he saw. It was one filled with pain...sadness...betrayal. It was the same face that Kikyo had when she sealed him with an arrow.

_

* * *

_Hmmm? Better? Maybe? Possibly? 


	4. The Way To Kagome

Was the last chap better, I hope? This one and the next...and the next...and probably the next are all gonna be emotional. I think. That's the plan anyway. OK, well, read on if you must.

* * *

"Inuyasha? What's going on? What's wrong with Kagome?" Miroku asks, peering over the edge of the well at the hanyou. He gasps slightly at the hanyou's position, immediately realizing that the Inuyasha hadn't been transported to the future. The monk pales visibly, turning around quickly to face the section of forest Inuyasha had just come from. Sango, Shippo, and Kilala follow his gaze, wondering what in the world is going on. All four stare in shock as Kikyo walks past the trees and heads toward them.

-----------------------

"So...Kagome...can never come back?" Shippo asks, tears sliding down his small cheeks.

Kikyo nods at the fox before turning to look at the well. Inuyasha still had not come out. She sighs, turning her dark eyes on the rest of the group.

Sango seems to be in the same state as the kitsune, but as her head is buried in her arms, the miko is unable to see her face. Kilala is beside her, head resting against the tajiya's leg while she stares at Kikyo with glassy eyes. Miroku is also obviously trying to contain himself, gazing distractedly at the well every few minutes. Kikyo takes a deep breath--relishing in the fresh air flooding through her lungs--before speaking again.

"Do not blame Inuyasha. This was an accident. It was not supposed to happen this way," she says. "He was not planning on bringing me back so soon. Inuyasha was asking Midoriko about the best way to do it when Kagome showed up." The now-living miko stares down at her hands, feeling the warmth from the sun shining on them. She looks back up at the group.

"Since Kagome and I share a soul, we cannot exist in the same time. When she went back through the well, our soul in this time could come back to me, reviving the body created by the _Shikon no tama. _Our soul is bound to this body now; Kagome cannot ever return. If she did somehow manage it, the girl's body would be nothing but a shell, as a soul cannot occupy two bodies at once. That is why the well sealed; it was part of the wish that was going to be made on the jewel, in order to keep Kagome from that fate."

Sango looks up, tear streaks on her cheeks. An angry glint is reflected in her eyes. "So, why was Inuyasha planning to revive you anyway, Kikyo?" the slayer asks, barely masked rage in her voice. Miroku raises his arm to place it on her shoulder, but Sango glares at him so much that the monk ends up scooting farther down the log they were sitting on. Kikyo sighs.

"I am not certain. I believe Inuyasha thought I deserved another chance to live out my life, since it had been cut short the first time. I...heard some of his and Midoriko's conversation before he sensed Kagome's presence and took off. I do not know how, as my body did not yet contain a soul. A minute later, I felt a warmth spreading from my chest and opened my eyes. I knew what had happened and that it wasn't the right time, but it was too late. Inuyasha's wish had been completed and the jewel had disappeared. Midoriko also, was gone, so I followed in the direction he had taken."

The tajiya continues to glare at the miko, a slight twitch in her right eye. "And what was Inuyasha planning to do once you had been revived and Kagome had been sent back to her time?" she asks venomously. The girl knew how much Kagome cared for the half-demon; the two had been getting closer ever since his ex-lover had died a few months ago. The slayer had thought that the hanyou had finally been willing to admit to his feelings for the other girl, but apparently they had been wrong. They had all been terribly wrong.

Kikyo watches the small group around her for a few seconds before turning back to the well; there was still no sign that Inuyasha was going to join them. The miko takes a deep breath, the words she's about to say causing surprisingly little discomfort to the priestess.

"Some fifty years ago, Inuyasha and I loved each other. But betrayal and the resulting hatred changed us, even though neither was our fault, and we were eventually able to forgive one another." Kikyo turns to face the others. "Inuyasha's heart no longer belongs to me; he gave it to Kagome a while ago, but did not realize it until recently. He was not planning to stay in this time. Inuyasha was going to follow Kagome to the future."

Shippo, Miroku, and Kilala stare in shock as the miko's words sink in. Sango's expression changes from irate to astonished in less than a second. She stutters her next words.

"S...he...Inuyasha...was going to go to the future? He...was going to be with Kagome?"

Kikyo is about to answer when another voice cuts through the evening air. "It doesn't matter now. She's gone. Move on."

The three humans and two demons turn their heads to see Inuyasha standing beside them, shoulders hunched, stance altered so that he's favoring his left foot. The hanyou simply stares at them, his face expressionless, his eyes blank. After a minute of silence, he turns and limps back into the forest.

---------------------------

"I wish we could have said goodbye," Shippo mumbles, wiping a few stray tears off his face.

The kitsune is sitting outside Kaede's hut with Miroku, cooking the group's dinner. Kagome had been gone almost a month, and everyone was slowly making their peace with the abrupt separation from their friend. Everyone except Inuyasha, that is.

The hanyou had barely spoken to any of them, choosing instead to sit in the branches of the Goshinboku day after day. The reason for this was two-fold. First, Inuyasha thought that the others blamed him for the loss of the miko. He himself did, so why shouldn't they? He didn't want to force his presence on them. Secondly, the half-demon had no desire to pretend that everything was going to be okay. He was shattered and tortured by what had happened because of his decision; no one had benefitted from it, least of all him. The only good thing that had happened was that the Sacred Jewel had finally vanished.

"Yes. Me, also. But we know Kagome misses us. It might actually have been easier this way," the monk says, earning an astonished scoff from the fox. Miroku smiles. "You know Kagome would have never wanted to leave us, but she belongs in her own time--not here. I believe that we would have eventually had to force her to go back."

Shippo glares at Miroku for a few minutes before sighing. He nods slowly. "I...think you're probably right, Miroku. But how was Inuyasha supposed to go to her time? Do you really think he belongs there and not here with us?"

The hoshin takes a few minutes to answer this question. He, Sango, and Kikyo had been discussing this very topic last night, wondering why the hanyou thought he could survive if he went to the future. They finally came to the conclusion that Kagome had been sent back to the Feudal Era for three reasons. One was to help in defeating Naraku and avenging her friends; one was to ensure that the _Shikon no tama_ was purified and ceased to exist. The third reason, the one they had trouble with, was that the girl from the future was destined to meet and fall in love with the hanyou from 500 years before she was born. The problem now was: How were the two supposed to be together, if she was in the future and he was in the past? Kikyo--who was not as upset by this realization as the other two thought she would be--came up with the answer. Though it took the rest of the night to figure out.

"Y...e...s," Miroku says slowly, nodding once in affirmation. Shippo gives him a disbelieving look, which earns the kitsune a small smile. The hoshin continues. "Inuyasha belongs with Kagome. Period. He loved Kikyo dearly, but what Inuyasha has with Kagome is something...different. I honestly do not believe that either one of them will survive for very long without the other."

Shippo stares at the monk as if he's lost his mind. The fox finally shakes his head and crosses his arms, huffing a little in the process. "And just how are they supposed to get back together? The well's closed. Inuyasha is stuck here." The demon waits for an answer with both fear and hope on his young face. He felt terrible about his friend's situation, but there was another question bothering his young mind. Would he be separated from Inuyasha, too?

Miroku turns the fish on the fire, rotating them so that the meal cooked evenly. He whispers his response. "Sango and Kikyo are delivering that answer as we speak."

---------------------

"Are you insane, Kikyo? Inuyasha will never go for it..."

The miko smiles sideways at her slayer companion, the girl's demon-cat riding on her far shoulder. "He will. He may think about it for a few days, but--in the end--Inuyasha will do it. He loves her," she says simply. Sango rolls her eyes as the pair passes the last few trees between them and the Tree of Ages. They see the half-demon sitting in one of the lower branches, gazing in the direction of the well, a vacant look on his face. Kikyo calls to him as they approach.

"Inuyasha? Come down, please. We wish to tell you something."

The hanyou turns his head to look at the two women, who hold back their frowns at what they see. Inuyasha had lost weight--his cheekbones were staring to show prominantly--and the wounds from his fight with Naraku--which should have healed weeks ago--were still bandaged, along with the foot he had injured when he jumped into the well. Inuyasha stares for several minutes before slowly sliding off the branch and dropping to the ground, grimacing when he lands. He doesn't say a word as he stands in front of the two of them, avoiding eye contact. Sango speaks first.

"Inuyasha. We...we think we've thought of a way for you to get to Kagome," she says, glancing at Kikyo. "Actually, it was Kikyo that came up with it..."

The half-demon stares blankly at them before turning around and preparing to jump back into the tree. A slight hint of annoyance had crossed his face, telling the women that he obviously thought this was a joke. Sango reaches out and grabs his arm, stopping him while Kikyo hurries to explain.

"It's true, Inuyasha. There is a way...but it will not be easy. Well, it might be... But you won't be able to come back to this time. Ever. If you go through with it, you will be stuck in Kagome's time. You must be sure that this is what you want; you will not be able to take it back. If you have any hesistation at all, I will not do it."

The half-demon turns slightly to look at the priestess, confusion and curiosity on his face. Sango lets go of his arm, sure now that he isn't going to run away.

"How?" he asks, his voice hoarse from not having been used for several days. Kikyo looks him in the eyes for a few seconds before shifting her gaze to the Goshinboku. Inuyasha frowns, following her stare to the bare spot on the tree's trunk, where he had been sealed for fifty years. The hanyou gasps as he realizes what Kikyo was planning to do, turning quickly to the miko.

"You...you want to seal me to the tree..._again_?" he asks, gaping in horror and astonishment. Both of the women slowly nod, waiting to see if he can answer them right now. After a minute, it's obvious that he can't.

"Just...think about it...Inuyasha. We'll be at Kaede's when you decide," Sango says, as she and the miko leave the shocked hanyou to his restless thoughts.

--------------------------

"You want to WHAT?" Shippo yells, standing up to his full height in front of the trio sitting before him. He's not very intimidating. Kaede is on the other side of the hut, listening to the conversation, but not taking part. Kikyo had just told the fox how she was planning to get Inuyasha to Kagome, and the kitsune was not amused. He stands there glaring while Kikyo speaks again.

"He needs to go. Inuyasha is not happy here," she says quietly. Shippo looks as though he'd like to use some of his magic on her. He speaks through gritted teeth.

"So Inuyasha's just gonna let you shoot him with an arrow, pinning him to a tree for _five hundred years_, keeping him in a deep sleep until Kagome--hopefully--wakes him up? She's upset and angry right now; you really think she'll pull the arrow out?" the fox asks, forcing himself to sit back down.

"Yes."

The whole group starts as Inuyasha answers Shippo's question. The hanyou walks slowly through the doorway and sits down next to Kaede, putting his hands into his sleeves. The old miko isn't sure, but she thinks some of the color has come back to the boy since she saw him last.

"Kagome may--and probably does--hate me right now, but she'll pull the arrow out. She couldn't _not_ do it if she tried," he whispers, finally looking up at the others. He's surprised to see sadness on their faces. He thought they'd be glad to get rid of the person who took their friend away. Inuyasha gapes openly at what happens next.

"We'll miss you, Inuyasha," Sango says, wiping away the tears starting to form in her eyes. Miroku nods while Kilala lets out a pitiful mew. Kaede reaches over and pats the hanyou on the arm, while Kikyo simply stares at him, her eyes silently telling the half-demon the same message as the others. Shippo, however, crosses his arms and sticks his nose in the air.

"I won't," he mumbles, continuing quickly at the shocked and slightly angry looks he's getting. "I'm going to go with him." Everyone stares.

"What?" Sango asks, confused. She glances at Miroku, who is wearing the same expression.

"You're...what?" the monk asks. It seems no one could quite process what the kitsune had just said.

"I said, 'I'm going with Inuyasha.' I'm going to go to Kagome's time," Shippo replies, now slightly scared of what he's just said. Inuyasha had been to the future; he knew what he was getting into. The fox-demon, however, had not. Everything would be new and strange; he wouldn't have a clue about anything. But he missed Kagome desperately, and knew he would miss the half-demon, too, once he was gone. Therefore, Shippo had decided that he would also allow himself to be pinned to the Goshinboku.

Kikyo watches the kitsune with narrowed eyes, noting his pale skin and scared expression. She speaks slowly. "I...am willing to do it...," she stops for a second at the scoffs from the others before continuing. "...but it will not be now. You are not yet old enough to make this decision, Shippo." The kitsune glares at the miko, his tiny fists shaking with rage. Kikyo gives him a small smile. "Take some time to enjoy your childhood, and grow a little. If you still wish to join Kagome, then I will seal you beside Inuyasha. On the condition that he is willing to watch over you," she whispers, turning her head to the half-demon, who--until now--hadn't made a sound.

Inuyasha had been watching Shippo ever since he had announced that he was going to let himself be shot with an arrow. _Kikyo's got it backwards...if Shippo can make this decision at this age, he will not change his mind once he has grown some. However..._

"I will. But Kikyo is right, Shippo. You should enjoy being a kid while you can," Inuyasha says, trying to keep the disdain from his voice.

The fox stares at the hanyou for a few seconds before he nods, silently accepting the conditions of the miko. Shippo hesitates a moment before slowly walking over and settling himself in Inuyasha's lap. The half-demon looks surprised, but doesn't say anything as Kikyo speaks again, ignoring the astonished looks of the other humans surrounding her.

"When do you want to do it?"

Inuyasha stares out the window of the hut, not really seeing the full moon taking up most of the opening. He speaks slowly. "There's...some...people...I need to speak to first. So...one week from today." Inuyasha turns back to the others, the seven companions sitting in uncomfortable silence long into the night.

All of them are thinking about what was going to happen in seven days' time.

------------------------------

"Are you ready?" Kikyo asks. She and Inuyasha are standing underneath the Goshinboku, the others a little ways away, talking amongst themselves.

The half-demon had already said goodbye to the others, feeling a little better that his friends were indeed, still his friends, and didn't hate him for what had happened. They would miss him, but understood his need to be with Kagome. They had all given him messages for the young miko.

Kikyo had already told Inuyasha that she was wrapping the arrow in a spell that would prevent anyone besides Kagome from seeing him until she did. The priestess was also including a spell that would provide protection; as long as he was still sealed, neither the tree nor the half-demon could be harmed. Kikyo didn't know what would happen over the course of the next five centuries, and didn't want to take any chances. Inuyasha also wouldn't age, and wouldn't remember anything from the time the arrow hit him until Kagome woke him up. Besides the initial pain of having a sharp object through your chest, it really wasn't a bad way to pass the time.

Inuyasha nods, staring into the eyes he had loved so long ago. He slowly reaches out and pulls the priestess into a tight hug, whispering in her ear before she pulls away. "Thank you."

Kikyo gives the hanyou a smile and turns, walking toward the others and pulling an arrow from her quiver. Inuyasha takes a last long look at his friends before closing his eyes, hoping the arrow won't hurt as much as it did the first time.

_At least it won't cause me the pain I'm feeling right now..._ he thinks, hearing soft _twang_ before something slams into his chest and the hanyou knows no more...

Inuyasha did not know just how wrong he was going to be.

* * *

I'm almost done with #5. It sohuld be up in like, an hour. Hopefully. This plot was bugging the crap outta me, and I had to get it up, even if no one likes it. I do, so...too bad. But I know what's gonna happen in later chaps. :) Ha. 


	5. Meeting Again

Here's #5. Not a happy chap. You'll see. Apparently I feel vindictive right now.

* * *

"Miss Higurashi? Miss Higurashi?" Kagome's teacher walks up the aisle to the girl's desk, glaring at the young woman who was ignoring her question about acids, and was staring out the window instead. _I know the material isn't that interesting, but can the students at least __**try**__ to pay attention instead of daydreaming every class?_

Mrs. Yohomana stops beside Kagome and crosses her arms, staring down her nose at the dark-haired girl, who still hasn't noticed her. Omani was vaguely aware that the rest of the class was watching the pair of them--waiting to see how much trouble Kagome was going to get into--except for the girl sitting directly behind Miss Higurashi.

Omani glances at Youpai Sensiaminu, frowning at the girl's expression. Kagome's tutor was silently pleading with her teacher not to pursue this--that Kagome was just having an off day.

_Several off days... _

The teacher glances back at her student, frowning again as she remembers the day--a little more than a month ago--when Kagome had finally started to come back to school on a regular basis. It should have been a positive thing, after having been sick for most of the past year-and-a-half, but Kagome was actually doing _worse_ in her classes than when she'd been out all the time. She was always daydreaming, hardly took any notes, did poorly on tests and homework...

Thankfully Youpai was still tutoting the girl, or she would probably have flunked out of school by now. Omani didn't know what was going on, but she had decided that she'd had enough of it. If Kagome was going to graduate, she needed to start paying attention. If not, then there was no point in the girl staying in school at all.

"Kagome," Omani says forcefully, placing one hand on the student's desk and leaning against it. Kagome finally seems to snap out of her trance and turns toward her teacher. Mrs. Yohomana has to stifle a gasp. She hadn't been this close to the girl in awhile, but she didn't remember ever seeing the teenager looking like this.

Kagome was very pale and had obviously lost weight--which Omani had noticed before, but didn't think was this bad. The girl has dark circles under her eyes--a sign that she hadn't been sleeping lately. Noticing her blank stare, the teacher tries to remember the last time Kagome had smiled, but can't recall anything more recent than Christmas. The girl was very obviously depressed, and didn't need to be in school right now. Omani sighs, then turns to Youpai.

"Go ahead and take her home; I'll get you two's assignments and send them home with her brother. Tell her mom to keep her tomorrow, too. If Kagome isn't better by Monday...she may need to see...someone," the teacher whispers. Youpai stares at her with wide eyes before nodding and gathering her things.

Omani helps Kagome to her feet and hands the girl her backpack, noticing that she hadn't even bothered to take out her book for class. She sighs again before handing her off to Youpai and dismissing the class a few minutes early, so she could visit the girl's other teachers.

_Kagome, I hope that whatever's bothering you can be fixed. Otherwise..._ Omani forces her mind away from that thought. She would wait until Monday before determining whether or not she should recommend a psychiatrist for her student.

---------------------

"It was worse today," Youpai says, glancing sideways at her friend. She and Kagome were almost back to the Shrine; they had stopped at WacDonald's so that Youpai could force a hamburger and some fries down Kagome's throat. The girl hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day and was bound to be hungry, though Youpai thought that Kagome probably wasn't feeling much of anything at the moment. The miko had her good days and bad days, and today was a bad day.

"Yes."

Kagome doesn't say anything else. She had been distracted since this morning--feeling that something was off...somewhere. This reminded her of all the times she had felt the same way while in the Feudal Era, which, in turn, had dropped the girl into a depressed state that often held her for hours. Having her teacher tell her to go home and stay there over the weekend had drawn her back out, but Kagome knew that unless something happened to shock her completely, it would be a very long time before she would be able to function normally.

_Normal...if only..._

No one really knew what was bothering the young priestess; she hadn't even told her family. Kagome had come back through the well and collapsed onto the bottom--spending the night in the same position until her Grandfather found her the next day. Kagome had stayed in bed for several days, finally emerging to return to _Sengoku Jidai_, only to find the well closed to her. This had sent the girl into an even worse state of depression--keeping her in bed for another week. Her family and Youpai were worried sick, but Kagome had woken up one day and gone to school, pretending that everything was fine and nothing was bothering her.

The miko was obviously lying--as her acting wasn't very good--but she refused to discuss it with anyone. Her tutor had come to the conclusion that it had something to do with Inuyasha, as Kagome had nearly bitten her head off when she casually mentioned the half-demon during one of their sessions. Youpai hadn't said his name since.

The pair continues on in silence, Youpai glancing at the miko every few minutes. She slowly relaxes as Kagome seems to come back to herself, and eventually asks what homework the girl wants to do tonight. Kagome shrugs and mutters a 'whatever' as they make their way up the Shrine steps.

Halfway across the yard, Kagome stops abruptly and jerks her head toward the Sacred Tree. Youpai stops beside her and frowns at the shocked and horrified look on the other girl's face. The tutor looks up at the tree, and--noticing nothing--stares back at her friend. She takes a step back from the miko as blatant rage starts to contort the girl's features while she stares at the Goshinboku. Youpai turns her head again, and gasps out loud at what she sees.

Pinned to the tree by an arrow, several feet off the ground, is Inuyasha. Beside him is another boy: tall, red-hair, dressed in some kind of fur, with a_ tail_. Youpai idly thinks that he's kind of cute before she wonders who he is. He also has an arrow through his chest, and both boys are asleep, roots from the tree--which weren't there this morning--having grown up around the two of them.

Youpai tentatively looks back toward the other girl, and sees her mumble something through gritted teeth. After a few seconds, Youpai distinctly hears Inuyasha's name come from Kagome's lips, and concludes that the first word must have been the other boy's name. The tutor turns back to the boys, and is atonished to see their eyes flutter and open. She stares in shock as the red-head looks around him, focuses his eyes first on her, then Kagome--a hint of a smile crossing his face before he wipes it off. Youpai glances at Inuyasha, who hadn't even tried to smile, and is simply staring at the young miko. She can see the sorrow in his golden eyes from where she stands. Youpai is about to ask Kagome what's going on, but thankfully turns to her friend before she speaks. The girl steps even farther away from the priestess.

Kagome is clenching her fists so tightly that Youpai can see drops of blood falling from them, and she's glaring at Inuyasha with what can only be hatred shining in her eyes. As the trio watches, Kagome's hands start to spark with blue flames, and the girl's hair seems to be standing on it's own; it's beginning to float around her head. Youpai can feel an immense amount of..._something_...pressing toward her.

The girl notices a movement out of the corner of her eye and turns toward the tree, gasping as she sees Inuyasha's robes and silver hair also start to float. The hanyou's eyes widen as his body starts to lift away from the tree, the other two staring in horror. When he's a few feet off of the trunk, an audible whine comes from the half-demon; he's obviously in pain.

His distress seems to snap Kagome out of whatever trance she was in, and the miko slowly calms down, her hair falling back down, and her hands losing their glow. Inuyasha falls back against the tree, breathing hard, but continuing to stare at the girl. After a minute, Kagome growls, turns on her heel, and stomps off toward the house, muttering angrily under her breath. The other three exchange looks, each so shocked at what they just witnessed that they can't find anything to say.

The miko returns after a few minutes, a small step-ladder under one arm, an angry glare still plastered on her face. Youpai turns around to see Kagome's family standing outside the kitchen door, astonished looks on their confused faces. None of them seems willing to come any closer than they already are.

Kagome passes Youpai and steps over the rope separating the Goshinboku, staring up at the two demons before her as she sets up the ladder between the two boys. She keeps her jaw shut tightly in case she inadvertently blurts out something she'll regret later. Stepping up, Kagome wraps her hand around the arrow pinning Shippo, and pulls with all the strength she can. After a few seconds of struggling, the arrow dissolves in a burst of bright light, freeing the kitsune. Kagome looks down at Youpai.

"Help Shippo into the house." Kagome glances up at her family, who is still staring at the scene before them. "And take my family with you," the girl says. Youpai nods once. Kagome's tone left no room for discussion.

Shippo breaks the vines wrapped around his body and drops to the ground, standing unsteadily before Youpai gets his arm around her shoulder. Five hundred years was a long time to go without using your muscles.

"What about...?" Youpai starts to ask, but stops immediately when she notices Kagome's glare.

"I need to speak with him," the miko answers, her voice flat. She keeps her eyes on the pair as they slowly make their way to the house, taking Kagome's mom, brother, and grandfather with them when they get to the door. Kagome waits until they've been in the house for a few minutes before she turns to the hanyou on her other side. The miko had heard him breathing shallowly for the past several minutes, but otherwise, Inuyasha hadn't made a sound.

_At least he's learned to keep his mouth shut..._ she thinks wryly, locking her dark brown gaze with his golden one. Kagome ignores the painful lurch her heart gives as she looks into his eyes.

The pair stares at one another for several minutes, neither saying a word. Each is studying the appearance of the other, noting the changes that had taken place since they saw each other last. Kagome fights to keep a frown from appearing on her face. _Those should have healed by now_... she thinks, eyeing the bandage still wrapped around Inuyasha's head. She silently curses herself for worrying about him, when he obviously didn't care about her.

The miko knew that the arrow that had sealed the half-demon had put him into a sort of stasis; it would be like no time had passed since he was bound to the tree. She makes a mental note to ask about that later, when she actually _felt _like talking to the hanyou. _If_ she ever felt like talking to him. Kagome turns her head to stare in the direction of the well, watching the dust swirl in a light breeze in front of the doorway before she speaks.

"You can never go back," she says. Kagome had figured out that the well had sealed on both sides when she saw the two demons pinned to her tree. She turns back to Inuyasha when he doesn't answer.

"I know," he whispers.

The miko feels her eye twitch and fights to control the anger that's starting to rise again. "So why are you here?" she asks, not containing the contempt in her voice. Inuyasha flinches at her tone and looks away for a minute before answering.

"I missed you," he says quietly. Kagome feels her heart lurch again. She squashes it and narrows her eyes at him.

"_Liar_," she hisses, so softly that only a demon could hear. Inuyasha pales as her word sinks in, his eyes widening in disbelief. Kagome continues to glare at the hanyou before a glint catches her eye and she shifts her gaze downward, focusing her eyes on the beads still hanging around his neck. She sneers, reaching up to grasp the necklace in her fist, pulling it slowly away from the half-demon.

Kagome has every intention of yanking the beads off, letting them scatter across the ground like so many pieces of her broken heart. She has no desire whatsoever to keep that connection with the boy before her. But the more stress she puts on the necklace, the more pressure an invisible force is putting on her heart. It's beating so hard that it feels like it's going to break again.

The miko glances up at the hanyou's eyes and notices that--for the first time--he actually looks scared. He's watching her hand with horror, his pupils so wide that she can't see his irises anymore. Kagome narrows her eyes, debating. She finally releases her grip on the beads and lets them rest gently back against the demon's chest. She takes a deep breath, feeling as though she's just avoided a terrible fate.

Turning away from Inuyasha, Kagome tries to control her anger as she asks, "Why is Shippo here?" The miko hears a small sigh before the hanyou speaks.

"He...missed you, too," he says, his voice catching slightly as he says 'too.' Kagome turns back to the half-demon and sees a single tear sliding down his cheek. The girl can't help it. She slaps him.

------------------------

Inuyasha had never been hit like that _in his life_. People had thrown rocks and sticks at him when he was young; he'd even been kicked a few times before he learned to avoid most humans. Fights with Naraku, Sesshomaru, Koga, and other random demons didn't even compare to the hit Kagome had just dealt him. No one--not even Kikyo--had ever hated him that much. Because he was _hanyou_, yes; because they thought he had no right to exist, even; but no one had ever _personally_ hated the half-demon enough to put that amount of pure rage into such a simple movement. And in that moment, Inuyasha _knew_ that she hated him. And he didn't blame her.

Gasping slightly from the stinging on his cheek, Inuyasha doesn't even look back at the girl beside him. He can't. He doesn't think he deserves to.

Kagome glares at the half-demon before her, fighting to keep her anger in check; she'd never been this..._ pissed_ in her life. She can feel the raw energy trying to escape from her body, and struggles to contain it. Despite how irate she was right now, the miko didn't have any desire to kill Inuyasha. And that's exactly what would happen if she let her powers take over again.

The girl sees another tear escape down the hanyou's cheek, and feels her hair starting to rise again as her incense increases. She quickly searches for a way to vent some of her anger, finally resorting to punching her fist into the tree beside the half-demon's head several times.

Inuyasha flinches at each hit, wondering if Kagome wishes she were punching him instead.

After seven or eight hits the girl finally stops, not even caring that the knuckles of her right hand are bleeding freely. Her anger has lessened considerably, but the miko is still very obviously upset. She speaks in a dangerously low voice, an almost feral growl punctuating her words.

"You...bastard. What the hell were you thinking? Were you _even_ thinking when you and that...priestess came up with this idiotic plan? It wasn't enough that you broke my heart, you had to make sure that I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life?"

Inuyasha finally turns back to the miko, intending to tell her what had happened that day. Kagome holds up her hands, hatred reflected in her eyes.

"Don't. Don't even _try_. You're a liar, Inuyasha. I'm never going to believe anything you say again--ever. If it wasn't for Shippo, I wouldn't even let you stay here. I'd throw you out into modern Tokyo and let your ass fend for itself."

The hanyou gapes at Kagome in horror, wondering just how much more hell he was going to be able to stand. The girl wasn't even going to give him a chance to explain what had happened, much less allow him to be a part of her life now. The only hope Inuyasha could see was that Shippo could back up his story. He was also silently praying that the miko was just extremely angry right now, and could forgive him--eventually. He hoped. Otherwise, there was no point in living in this time, either.

Kagome continues to glare for another minute before reaching out and grabbing the arrow sticking out of Inuyasha's chest. Neither of them notice that it dissolves almost instantly; she doesn't even have to pull on it. The miko gives the half-demon another hateful look before hopping to the ground and grabbing the ladder, not even bothering to fold it before she stalks back to the house. She doesn't look back.

* * *

Ouch. Anybody ever been this upset? I have once, and I almost ripped a door off it's hinges. People would take one look and actually turn the other way to avoid me. It didn't last long, though, thankfully. It takes too much energy. Ok, now that everyone knows I'm crazy... 


	6. Beginning of Forgiveness

Hello all. This chap took awhile...don't know why. Oh, yeah I do. I had all these scenes I was going to put in, and then a better one hit me, and I decided to use that one instead. Unfortunately, I had already written, like 3 of them. :( Little bit of drama and emotion, hopefully, and more next chap, as is obvious by the end of this one. Maybe it makes sense. Ugh... Ok, well, off to work on another story!

* * *

"So, that's why Kagome has been upset?" Sota asks.

He, his mother and Gramps, Youpai, and Shippo were all sitting at the kitchen table. The fox-demon had given them an abbreviated version of what had happened in the past, saying he would tell them more after Kagome had been told. From her expression, the kitsune had a suspicion that the miko would not listen to the truth for quite a while.

Shippo nods and is about to add something, when the soft patter of feet reaches his ears. He glances toward the sliding glass door, and holds up his hand to stop any more questions from the girl's brother. He frowns, realizing that there's only one set of echoes. The others all turn as Kagome opens the back door, dropping the ladder inside before stomping past the group and heading upstairs. They hear a door slam before silence encompasses the room.

The five of them sit there for several minutes before Shippo stands and heads back out the door to find his friend. Youpai follows, telling Kagome's family to wait in the kitchen.

As she turns the corner around the house, Youpai sees the kitsune reach up and pull on Inuyasha's hakamas, breaking the roots still holding the half-demon to the tree. Shippo has to catch the other demon, as the boy was just going to let himself fall to the ground. The schoolgirl approaches slowly, not sure if she should be witness to this moment. She hears the hanyou mumble 'she hates me,' before his legs give out and the fox lowers him slowly to the ground. Shippo looks up at Youpai, silently pleading for help.

"You didn't think it would be easy? Did you, Inuyasha?" the girl asks while kneeling beside him. Shippo gives her a horrified look. He had asked for _help_, not something to make the situation worse. Inuyasha, however, shakes his silver head and draws his knees up, wrapping his arms around them and burying his face against his legs. Youpai pulls him over to her and hugs the hanyou. Inuyasha doesn't object.

"She'll come around. Kagome's just angry right now. Give her time," Youpai whispers.

Inuyasha draws back after a few minutes, and nods once. He takes in Kagome's tutor, noting that her hair had grown a little since he'd seen her last; she has it in two long braids on either side of her head, her bangs angled slightly to one side, almost covering her right eye. Inuyasha also notices that Youpai seems to be prettier than he'd first noticed, most likely because he's only had eyes for Kagome for so long. The boy turns his head to take in the kitsune and receives a slight shock.

Shippo has grown several inches since the last time he saw him; he's very close to Inuyasha's height now. The fox's hair trails down his back in a loose braid--his bangs sticking out in odd directions like the hanyou's own--and his light-colored tail swings slowly back and forth behind him. His features have thinned and matured; he looks to be a few years younger than Kagome, Inuyasha, and Youpai, though he is, in fact, several years older than the two women. The half-demon, however, thinks that the youkai's clothing is the most drastic change.

Shippo is wearing a vest of black demon-fur--most likely a bear or a possibly a panther--over a bare chest. He's got bracers of the same material on his wrists, and he's wearing a pair of white hakamas, but Inuyasha can't tell what kind of fur it is. The kitsune's feet are bare, and he's got a small, red pouch hanging from one hip, an ornate-hilted katana on the other.

Shippo gives the older demon a small smile. "I've changed--huh?" he asks, his grin widening as the hanyou continues to stare. Inuyasha nods again before looking down at his hands, clenched in front of his legs. He closes his eyes as his thoughts stray back to the miko, fighting to keep the tears at bay.

The girl and the fox-demon exchange a look before each of them grabs one arm of the hanyou. "Come on, Inuyasha, let's get you in the house," Youpai whispers, as Shippo drapes one of the half-demon's arms across his shoulders. The girl walks beside the two demons as they make their way to the house, noting the far-off look in Inuyasha's eyes.

She silently prays that Kagome can forgive the hanyou soon.

-----------------

Kagome is laying on her bed, staring at her darkened ceiling. It's now Saturday night...no, Sunday morning, and the girl had only left her room three times--each time only to visit the bathroom--since she'd barracaded herself inside two nights ago. The miko had been so angry on Thursday, that she had simply paced the room, muttering to herself about idiot demons. Friday morning she had started on her homework--to keep herself occupied--and had just finished it a few hours ago. The girl had been lying in her bed since then, thinking.

Kagome turns her head and looks at her alarm clock. _12:05..._ She sighs.

The house had been quiet for the past few hours, and Kagome felt it was finally safe enough to emerge from her seclusion. She wanted a hot shower and something to eat, but didn't have any desire to see anyone. The girl had calmed down some, but was still very angry about her current circumstances.

The miko could feel the auras of the two demons inside the house, and gritted her teeth as her thoughts automatically strayed to the one with the golden eyes. She knew there was truth behind Inuyasha's words, though she had made him think she thought otherwise. Shippo wouldn't still be talking to him, and her family wouldn't allow the hanyou to stay here if they thought Inuyasha had wronged her.

But Kagome knew what she had seen, and it _had_ broken her heart. She couldn't just forgive the half-demon for how he had made her feel when she had seen him and Kikyo together. Again. After the miko had died and come back. Again. All those times he had run to Kikyo was nothing compared to this...betrayal. If Inuyasha had a good reason for bringing the priestess back from the dead, Kagome was currently too blind to see it. Not only had the half-demon hurt her badly, he had also lost the girl's trust. And it would take a _very_ long time to earn that back.

Kagome sighs again and lifts herself off the bed, gathering some clean clothes. She silently opens the door and tiptoes down the hallway, closing the bathroom door behind her. She starts the shower and steps in, the hot water helping to relax her tense muscles. The girl closes her eyes, her mind again wandering to the half-demon downstairs. It takes her a few seconds to notice the tears that are mingling with the cascading water, and the miko struggles to contain them. She breaks down a minute later, kneeling in the bottom of the tub, her face buried in her hands.

--------------------------

It's been almost a month since Shippo and Inuyasha have arrived in the modern era, and Kagome and the hanyou are adamantly avoiding each other. The girl has talked to the kitsune some, but has only spoken--or more accurately, _yelled_--at the half-demon one time. Her usual routine keeps them apart, as it involves waking up before the boys, heading off to school, staying over at Youpai's until dark, then returning to her house and grabbing something to eat before going up to her room. The plan works well, as Inuyasha is almost always in his room downstairs by then, and the two don't have to cross paths.

There are several problems, however. In evading Inuyasha, Kagome is also effectively avoiding her family and Shippo, too. She sees her mother and brother briefly in the mornings, but rarely runs into any of the them when she comes home. This added stress is not helping to abate the miko's anger toward the half-demon, which she knows she needs to deal with before she can even _try_ to forgive him.

Kagome spends most of her weekend hours at Youpai's or with her other friends, or locked away in her room. She's not eating or sleeping well, and her only positive is that her grades have come back up a little. This is due to the fact that the girl is trying to keep her mind off the hanyou as much as possible, and is using her schoolwork as the medium.

Inuyasha is also having difficulties. He hasn't been off the Shrine grounds since he and Shippo woke up, and neither have very much to do with their days. While the kitsune spends most of his time trying to figure out 'those thingies,' --referring to most of the modern appliances and other odd items in Kagome's house--Inuyasha already knows what they are, or at least what they're for, and therefore has nothing to occupy his attention.

The hanyou spends his days sitting in the Goshinboku or the Bone-Eater's Well, mostly thinking about his decision and whether Kagome will forgive him or not. He's not eating or sleeping very well, either, and has recently started crying in his sleep--when he actually gets it. He doesn't know this, however, and his patience with the girl--never very high--is starting to run out.

---------------------

Kagome yawns. Youpai had convinced the girl to stay late to study for an exam the next day, and the girls had inadvertantly fallen asleep after finishing their practice paper. They had woken up just before midnight, and Kagome had insisted on going home, as it was only three blocks away from her own house. The other girl finally agreed, after making Kagome promise to call the minute she got home.

The miko slips in her back door, quietly sliding it shut behind her. She yawns again and walks over to the fridge to get a drink before heading to bed. As she replaces the milk, the girl tilts her head to the side.

_What is that? It sounds like..._

Kagome gasps as she recognizes the whimper. Being very quiet, the girl steps out of the kitchen and into the hallway leading to the downstairs bedrooms. Her grandfather's door is closed and she can hear a soft snore coming from the space, but the door to the room her mother had given Inuyasha is cracked, and the girl can see moonlight streaming into the dark hallway. She slides her socked feet closer and carefully places one hand on the door, pushing it open. Her heart stops as she sees the hanyou.

Inuyasha is lying on the bed, his covers tangled around his legs. The boy's hair is spread out--making a halo of silver around his head and shoulders. His torso is bare, and the miko can see streaks on his cheeks where previous tears had fallen. As Kagome watches, the hanyou shakes his head back and forth quickly, mumbling 'No, no!' several times. He raises one arm and says the girl's name, then drops it back to his side as he starts to cry once again.

"He's been doing that for awhile now."

Kagome jumps and turns quickly to see Shippo standing behind her, wearing pajama bottoms and t-shirt. He smiles sadly before looking back at Inuyasha.

"I don't think he knows that he's doing it. He started a couple of weeks ago, after you ran into him in the living room."

The girl nods--she remembered. Youpai had something to do that day and left school early, so Kagome couldn't come over. She had gone straight home and entered through the front door, immediately turning right to head into the living room. She didn't notice Inuyasha bent down near the floor and tripped over the hanyou, her momentum and over-loaded backpack carrying her forward.

The girl stopped suddenly, a pair of strong arms around her waist. Kagome opened her eyes to see the point of the glass coffee table inches from her face. She felt herself being lifted and placed on her feet, then turned around to see worried golden eyes staring down at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, moving her bangs aside to see if she'd hit the table. Kagome had stared at him for exactly three seconds before shoving his hand off her head and glaring at the half-demon.

"No thanks to you!" she yelled, before storming out of the room and upstairs. Kagome had found out later that evening why Inuyasha was kneeling on the floor. She'd been ashamed, but hadn't apologized for her outburst, or thanked him for catching her. He was practicing how to tie shoelaces.

Kagome turns back to the boy lying on the bed. "Wh...what's he dreaming about--do you think?" she whispers, fearing she already knows the answer.

Shippo sighs and leans on the opposite doorframe from the girl. "I...would guess that it's the day you left. That's what it sounds like. But I obviously can't be sure."

The miko nods, staring unseeing at the hanyou. She can feel her anger ebbing away as she watches the tears glistening on Inuyasha's cheeks. The girl knows that she won't be able to stay mad at him for very much longer. It was taking too much energy--on both their parts--and was causing an unbelievable amount of tension in the house. If Kagome could forgive the boy, then at least her life would be somewhat bearable--instead of the piece of crap it was now.

Kagome takes a deep breath before turning around. "Goodnight," she whispers, walking quietly back up the hallway and upstairs.

Shippo listens until he hears the latch on her door click before turning back to the dog-demon. He sighs, closing the door to Inuyasha's room before heading upstairs to the one he shared with Sota.

--------------------

_Two days later..._

"Inuyasha? If you'll go get Sota up, we can leave for the mall after he eats breakfast," Kajina says, taking the half-demon's plate and glass over to the sink. "And I can get you boys started on things this afternoon."

Inuyasha cringes, silently wondering why he agreed to her offer. It had been Shippo's idea, and Inuyasha was so..._bored, _and annoyed right now, that he had said 'Yes'. Trying to hide his frown, he mumbles, "Ok," ignoring Shippo's questioning look from across the table. Inuyasha had woken up that morning to find that he'd been crying in his sleep, and wasn't the least bit pleased. There was no telling how long he'd been doing it, and the boy was irritated, knowing that one of the others could have heard him.

Inuyasha sighs and stands up, heading for the doorway. Just before he gets there, Kagome steps around the corner and comes within a foot of the hanyou. The pair stops and stares at each other, a mixture of surprise and annoyance of their faces; Kagome also looks slightly angry.

Kajina and Shippo instantly notice the sudden increase in tension, and both abruptly stop what they're doing to stare. Kagome's mother--trying to diffuse the situation--says, "We're going to go shopping, Kagome. The boys need clothes of their own." She tries to make her voice sounds cheery, but it comes out slightly strained instead.

The miko hears her mother, but doesn't take her gaze from Inuyasha. She takes in the hanyou's clothing, noticing for the first time that he's wearing some of her father's things. Kagome frowns. She was very close to her dad when he was alive, and didn't like the idea of _anyone_ wearing his clothes. Her anger at the silver-haired boy before her suddenly spikes, and Kagome doesn't stop to think about what she's about to say.

"Half-breeds don't need to wear human's clothes," she breathes, fury radiating from her body. Inuyasha reacts as though he been pierced with his own sword.

His eyes go wide and his face drains of all color as he takes a few steps back from the girl. He vaguely hears a choked gasp from the kitsune and a '_Kagome!_' from the girl's mother, but the sounds are muffled. Inuyasha struggles to catch his breath as his heart beats painfully in his chest. He can feel his eyes start to water.

"Gonna cry now?" Kagome asks mockingly, still glaring angrily. This gets a reaction from Shippo.

"Kagome!" he yells, standing up so fast that he knocks the cereal box on the table over and spills little round donuts of oat all over the table and onto the floor. The fox-demon gives the girl a warning look, but she never took her eyes off of Inuyasha.

The hanyou's shock at Kagome's name calling wears off quickly as her second sentence and Shippo's reaction to it sinks in. The two obviously knew what he'd been going through at night--when he was dreaming that he'd never see Kagome again--and Inuyasha can feel his temper rising as he realizes this. His eyes darken as he narrows them at the girl standing before him. He clenches his fists and lets a low growl leave his throat, baring his fangs in the process.

Kagome sneers. "See?" she asks, earning another gasp from her mother. The girl ignores this and keeps talking. "You should never have come here. You should have stayed with that miko _bi_..."

Inuyasha reacts so fast that even Shippo couldn't follow. He blinks, not believing what his demon eyes are seeing.

The half-demon's right hand is closed around Kagome's throat, the muscles in his fingers and arm twitching. His left hand is grasping the girl's left wrist, their hands hovering between the two of them. Her right palm is pressed against Inuyasha's chest, a blue glow lighting the tips of her fingers. Her eyes are narrowed and she's gritting her teeth together.

Shippo sees a movement out of the corner of his eyes and quickly dashes around the table to grab Kajina, who was very pale and heading for her daughter.

"No. They have to work this out on their own," he whispers, holding the woman until she gives a small sob and stops struggling. He turns back to Inuyasha in time to hear him speak.

"Don't," the half-demon growls, his eyes glittering dangerously. Kagome sneers again.

"Don't? Ha. After everything you've put me through, you really think I care anymore? It's obvious that _she's_ the one you..."

Kagome cuts herself off and bites her bottom lip. She hadn't meant to say that. The miko blinks a few times to keep the tears that were threatening to form at bay, and concentrates on channeling her power into her hand. She can feel Inuyasha through his shirt, and wonders if the heat from her palm is making him uncomfortable. He hasn't made any sign that he can feel it, but Kagome feels a grim sort of satisfaction that she could hurt him.

Inuyasha saw the sadness that flashed through the girl's eyes when she slipped. The hanyou feels his heart clench painfully and suddenly realizes what he's doing. He lets his grip on the girl's throat and wrist loosen slightly, and watches her eyes widen in surprise, though she doesn't move her hand away. He can still feel the intense amount of heat radiating off of her palm, and thinks that he'd probably be burned by now, if the shirt wasn't there. He's about to ask if that's what she really thinks, when Shippo does it for him.

"Kagome...why do you think Inuyasha is here?" he asks quietly.

Inuyasha's ears twitch in the kitsune's direction, but he doesn't make any other movements. He watches Kagome's eyes as they slowly relax out of the glare she was still giving him and frowns instead. She shifts her gaze to the pair standing behind him, and the half-demon hears Kajina speak.

"Listen to him," she says, so quietly that there's no way Kagome could have heard. Inuyasha thinks that the girl must have read her mother's lips. She shifts her eyes back to him, still frowning.

_Kagome doesn't know...she can't decide..._ Inuyasha takes a shallow breath and releases the girl's wrist, shifting his other hand from her throat to her chin, cupping it lightly.

"Please," he whispers, hoping that his show of faith will convince the girl to at least talk to him.

Kagome continues to watch the half-demon, studying the golden eyes that she could never get out of her head. The miko had seen them filled with everything from sadness to hatred and all those in between, but right now they were glossed over and silently pleading with her, like the soft word he had uttered a moment before. The girl sees a single tear slip out and slide down his cheek--reminding her of two nights ago, when she had seen him sleeping. Feeling her anger with the boy finally ebb away, Kagome sighs.

"Alright," she mumbles, dropping her head. She leaves her hand on Inuyasha's chest for a moment more, drawing her power away from the demon. She feels him breath in deeply, and knows that she probably did hurt him. This time though, it doesn't give her any satisfaction.

Kagome slowly draws her hand away and reaches up to grab the one still cupping her face. She wraps her fingers around his and turns away, pulling the boy behind her. Shippo and Kajina watch as the pair leaves the kitchen, not releasing their breaths until they hear a door upstairs squeak and close.

"Well...I guess were not going shopping today," Shippo says.

* * *

Huh? Alright? 


	7. Apology, Part One

Hey ya'll. I don't really know what I think about this chap. I was going to have this really mean fight with Inu and Kag calling each other names, but I couldn't figure out how to work it in. Oh, well. Also, I don't feel like I put enough in this chap, so I'm going to start working on #8, and hopefully get it up by Fri. Hrmmmm...is that all??? I think so... :P

_

* * *

Liar...Bastard...Half-breed..._

Kagome bites back a sob, but lets her tears slide slowly down her cheeks. _What's wrong with me? I was so...so...__**cruel**__. Vicious, even. I know I was angry, but there's no excuse for me saying things like that..._

The girl turns her head slightly toward the hanyou, who is leaning back against her bedroom door, his eyes trained on his feet. Kagome herself was sitting on her windowsill, staring vaguely out the window. The pair had been in the room for at least half-an-hour without saying a word.

_How do you start a conversation that will decide the rest of your life?_

The girl turns her head back the window, her sore neck throbbing a little as she moves. Kagome starts to bring one hand up to the wound, but notices the scars on her knuckles and stops.

_I was so angry..._ she thinks, rotating her right hand to scrutinize the small, pale, jagged lines more closely.

The bark of the Goshinboku had not cut her deeply, but the miko took several splinters from the tree. Add to that the fact that Kagome had still been upset afterward, and had not even felt the pain she had caused herself. She didn't immediately treat the wounds, and now she was left with a visual reminder of her actions that day.

Kagome frowns and flips her right hand over, bringing the left one up beside it. Tiny crescent marks line the palms of her hands. She sighs, and knows that Inuyasha has lifted his eyes to her. She turns to him, wincing again at the pain on her neck.

"Were you really going to do it, Inuyasha?" she whispers, wrapping the fingers of one hand around her throat, a few tears escaping down her cheeks.

The half-demon stares blankly for a second, before an expression of horror crosses his features. He catches half of the cry trying to escape his throat, but can't hold onto the low whine following it. The boy feels a deep stab of pain in his chest when he sees the girl crying.

"No...I wouldn't...of course I wasn't..." The boy stops, unable to make his thoughts into coherent sentences. He brings his hands up to bury his face in them, so his next words are mumbled. "It...was just a reaction. I didn't..."

A wry laugh from the girl stops him, and he looks up. Kagome is shaking her head slowly, a sad grin on her lips. "Of course. No one talks about _her_ that way. Ever. I should have known..."

"That's not what it was," Inuyasha interrupts, a hint of anger in his voice. He holds the girl's disbelieving gaze with his own, and tries to make her understand. "I didn't even realize that you had started talking about Kikyo. The reason I got upset was because of what you said before. That...that I shouldn't ever have come here. That I should have stayed in the Feudal Era."

The miko stares for a second, before her expression changes to a scowl. She obviously doesn't believe him. "And why would that bother you?" Kagome asks, her voice mocking.

Inuyasha glares, then growls his response, his teeth clenched tightly to control his temper. "I can't let you believe that I should never have come to your time, Kagome. If you really think that, then my sealing to the tree was a horrible mistake, and what happened the night before you left meant nothing."

Kagome frowns. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The hanyou holds her gaze for a few seconds before staring at his feet. "That means that you were never as..._involved_ as I thought you were."

"You...you..." Kagome closes her eyes, trying to control her rage at what Inuyasha had just implied. She doesn't even notice that she's standing now. _The...the...how __**dare**__ he?! _The miko opens her dark eyes to glare at the silver-haired boy. She's so upset that her fists are shaking.

"After everything that we've gone through, you have the _nerve_ to say that _I_ wasn't the one involved?! _I_ was the one who stayed by your side this whole time! You were the one who was always running off to _her_! You were the one who needed _time_ to sort out your feelings! And don't you dare try to deny it, Inuyasha!" she yells, seeing the boy about to protest.

The hanyou slowly closes his mouth and scowls at being reprimanded, though he knows the girl is right. He's still not happy with her next words, though.

"Why does it matter if I think you don't belong here? You don't. You weren't born in this time; you don't know anything about it. It would've been better if you'd..."

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Inuyasha roars.

Kagome jumps, her eyes widening as she sees the fury on the boy's face. The miko barely has time to register that Inuyasha has moved, before he's standing directly in front of her. The girl backs up the few inches to the bedroom wall, suddenly wanting some space between herself and the irate half-demon looming over her.

Inuyasha closes the gap until he's leaning against the miko--his forearms on the wall, his fists clenched, his face resting against her hair. The boy has his eyes closed, and is taking a few minutes to compose himself. He finally speaks in a coarse whisper.

"Don't you see, Kagome? Don't you see why it's important that you _want_ me here?"

The miko frowns, trying to make some sense out of the hanyou's words. It doesn't help that his body pressed against hers is making her heart flip-flop over and over. The girl finally gives up trying to understand the point Inuyasha was trying to make.

"I...I don't get it..." she mumbles into his shirt.

Inuyasha sighs, then leans back to stare the girl in the face. She looks very confused. "Before all this, I was going to come here, Kagome. I was going to live in this time--with you."

The girl's eyes widen as her mouth opens into a small 'o' shape. Inuyasha closes his eyes, but not before Kagome sees the glazed look starting to come over them. He starts again, his voice low and rough.

"If you think that I don't belong here, Kagome, then anything that might eventually happen between us won't work. Assuming that we resolve our..._misunderstanding_." The hanyou makes a slow whining sound deep in his throat before continuing.

"You couldn't stay in our time, Kagome. You have family here, and a life. Even if you wanted to stay, at some point you would have had to come back for good. Excluding our friends, I don't have those sorts of ties. Sesshomaru, yes, but it's...different, for us. So I _could_ come to your time. It was the only way we ..."

Inuyasha stops, and Kagome sees silent tears streaking down his cheeks. The girl focuses her eyes on the buttons going up the middle of his shirt, thinking about the half-demon's words.

_He...is he right? Would I really have had to leave everyone and come back for good? I haven't even thought about it. What __**were**__ we going to do, if things haden't gotten so messed up? Stay in the past? What about school? What about __**after**__ school?_

Kagome had been so angry and hurt when she had seen Kikyo, then the realization that she would never see her friends again, that the miko hadn't even thought about what might have happened between her and Inuyasha, had everything not gotten so out of control. Would things have worked out? What if they didn't? Would Kagome still want to see the half-demon?

The girl slowly brings her gaze up to the boy's face--which is still bowed--and answers her own question. Kagome feels her eyes water as she thinks about a life that didn't contain Inuyasha. He was her best friend and guardian angel. The hanyou had been so much a part of her life for the past few years, that there was no way that she could live without him-- regardless of whether they ever got back to the place they were before. The girl had been so upset that she had forgotten how much Inuyasha meant to her.

Tears start to fall down her cheeks again as Kagome slowly brings her arms up to wrap around his waist, her face buried in his chest. Inuyasha gasps, and the miko can hear his heart thumping loudly as he brings his arms down to her shoulders, his face in her hair.

"I've missed you, too," she whispers, hearing a small sob from the boy in response. "And... I'm glad you're here."

-------------------

Kagome doesn't know how long the two of them stayed in that position, but her arms and back are stiff when she finally pulls away.

"Why don't you sit..."

WHAM!

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

"Aaarrrgghhhh!"

"Ooooowwwww..."

"Now you know how much it hurts...," Inuyasha mumbles from his position under the girl. "At least you had a soft landing..."

The half-demon had instantly reacted when she'd said the word, twisting around so that he didn't crush her when he was slammed into the floor. Unfortunately, the boy forgot to remove his hands from her arms, and brought the girl crashing down with him.

"I forgot...," Kagome moans from Inuyasha's stomach.

"You forgot?" the boy asks, astounded. He can't move yet, but the miko can picture the glare he's giving her. "How could you _forget_?!"

Kagome sighs. "I haven't had to think about saying 'si...,' uh... _that word_, in almost three months, Inuyasha." The girl slowly lifts herself into a sitting position beside the still-prone hanyou, and rubs her back with one hand. She looks at him with a sorrowful expression, and sees it echoed back on his own features.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, bowing her head.

The hanyou sighs. "It's alright. It's nothing I'm not..."

"No," the priestess whispers. Inuyasha looks at her with raised brows, confused at the girl's tone. Kagome draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

"I'm not just sorry for that. I'm sorry for how I've been acting since you and Shippo woke up. For how I've been treating you. And for what...I've said to you," Kagome mumbles.

The girl has her face buried against her knees and Inuyasha can hear her sobbing quietly. He painfully sits up and places one hand on the back of her head, running his claws through her dark hair.

"It's fine, Kag..."

"It is NOT fine!" the girl yells. Inuyasha flinches, quickly drawing his hand away from the miko, shock written across his face. Kagome looks flushed and angry, but she's still crying. The girl fists her hands in her hair and speaks quickly.

"I don't care what I thought you'd done. Nothing can excuse the things I've said to you, Inuyasha. Especially...in the kitchen..." Kagome brings her hands around to her face to hide behind them. "It's...I should never...I don't..."

"It was a reaction."

The girl raises her head at Inuyasha's words. Kagome stares at the hanyou with something like surprise, but not quite. How could he be so nonchalant about what she'd called him?

"You were hurt, Kagome. I know what that feels like--remember?" the half-demon asks. He doesn't look at the girl, but instead focuses his gaze on the carpet, twisting the material into little peaks. She hears the hanyou swallow heavily before he speaks again.

"I don't blame you for trying to make me feel the pain that you were. And it's not like you were saying something that's not true. I _am_ a half-breed," he whispers.

Kagome feels her breath catch in her throat at the suffering in the boy's voice. She shakes her head. "That's still no excuse, Inuyasha. I shouldn't have said it--under any circumstances. And neither should you."

The hanyou glances up--surprised and slightly confused. He's about to argue--but the miko keeps talking, her expression serious.

"It implies certain things--things that are hurtful and untrue. Things that definitely do not apply to you. So I'm going to apologize for my horrible lapse in judgement, and I'm going to promise never to say it again. And I don't ever expect to hear you say it, either."

Inuyasha is so shocked at her words that he can't do anything but stare at the girl. He blinks dumbly at her, wondering what he _could_ say. The girl's hands on his cheeks brings the boy back to the present.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," the miko says, her voice soft. "You will never hear that word from me again."

The hanyou can feel his cheeks reddening at the earnestness in the girl's voice, and the sincerity in her dark eyes. He quickly pulls away, nodding at her apology. "Okay. Apology accepted," he mumbles, running one hand through his bangs. He turns away from the girl and lets his gaze wander around the room. His jaw opens slightly in shock. "What...what did you do to your room, Kagome?"

The miko smiles at the boy's dumfounded expression, then sighs. "I changed it, obviously. After I found out the well was sealed, Youpai and I painted the walls and rearranged my stuff. I needed something that was less..._happy_."

Inuyasha lets his ears droop as he notices the changes in Kagome's room. The walls are now a blood-red color, with some kind of white paper going around the top near the ceiling, though the carpet is still a light green. The girl's bed is sticking out from corner of the room across from the door; her desk is under the window on that wall; the dresser and bookshelf occupy the corner and wall where her bed had been. All the pictures and other hanging things have been moved around, as well as the small table and the box of toys that sat around the bed. The curtains, comforter, and pillow are a sort of greyish-blue color, as is the rug under the miko's desk. Kagome glances at the boy before her and suddenly realizes why she picked the colors that she did. They reminded her of Inuyasha.

"I...I'm sorry that...you had to change everything...," the boy whispers. Kagome notices that his ears are so low that they're in danger of disappearing beneath his hair. She sighs again.

"It's alright. I think I was ready for a change, anyway. My room's looked like that since I was, like, ten. And I really was getting tired of all that pink." The girl nods when Inuyasha gives her a disbelieving look. "Seriously."

Inuyasha continues to frown, but doesn't make any more comments. He idly wonders why he didn't notice the change when he'd first come into the room, but quickly attributes it to the fact that he was too occupied with their current fight. Also, since he hadn't been _in_ Kagome's room in so long, he was just relieved to finally be somewhere familiar, and didn't pay that much attention.

_It still smells just like her_... he thinks, inhaling deeply, but trying not to make it noticeable. The half-demon glances sideways at the miko, but she's leaning back against the bed with her eyes closed. Inuyasha hesitates a second before sliding across the floor to sit beside her, resting his head next to Kagome's.

"It doesn't hurt my eyes so much," he murmurs, smiling when he hears a soft chuckle from the priestess.

"That's good. Because you'll probably be up here more..."

Kagome cuts herself off and takes a deep breath. "I guess you'd better start from when I left the hut," she whispers, turning her head to look at the hanyou as he begins to speak.

-------------------

"It wasn't Kikyo I was talking to; it was Midoriko."

Kagome frowns. "And no one else could see her?"

"_I_ couldn't even see her, Kagome. I could just hear her voice. She was speaking _through_ the _Shikon no tama_."

The girl sighs. "Well, that explains why I thought you were talking to Kikyo. I would have been to far away to hear Midoriko's voice."

After Kagome had left that morning, the half-demon had gone by himself to speak to the long-dead priestess about the best way to make his wish. Midoriko had come to his dreams sometime in the early morning and told him that if he wanted her help, all he had to do was ask. Inuyasha did just that.

The jewel had remade Kikyo's body, and--unfortunately--the young miko just happened to come back through the well at the moment it was created. Since the same soul cannot occupy two bodies in the same time, the young miko had priority--since she was already alive.

When Kagome found Inuyasha and Kikyo together and left the Feudal Era, though, the soul in the past did not transfer to the future, but instead went back to the nearest available body--it's original--Kikyo. The part of Inuyasha's wish that would keep the girl safe in the future sealed the well, so that she could never leave her soul in the present, and return to the past as an empty shell.

"I was going to tell you," the half-demon whispers, his growl so low that the miko only just hears it. "I...wanted to know if you thought it was the right thing to do. But I didn't get the chance..."

Kagome doesn't speak, but lets her mind wander over the hanyou's words. _A misunderstanding ... It was all just bad timing and a...a lack of trust..._ the girl thinks, feeling her eyes water.

After all this time, the miko thought that she trusted Inuyasha, but it was clear that she didn't. At least, not where Kikyo was concerned. In the very first test of her faith in him, it was shattered completely. And it was all her own damn fault. Add to that the fact that he obviously trusted her enough to want the girl's opinion of his wish, and Kagome felt about three inches tall right now.

"Because you thought Kikyo deserved another chance to live and be happy? Because her life was unfairly cut short the first time?" she whispers.

Kagome sees Inuyasha nod from his position at the top of the bed. The miko was curled into a ball at the foot, while the half-demon was leaning against the headboard. The miko takes a few minutes to digest this, then speaks again.

"And after she came back..."

"I would be here with you before Kikyo was brought back," Inuyasha says. Again, his voice is so low that the girl can barely hear his answer. "When we were ready, Midoriko said to make the wish, then jump through with you, but leave the jewel in the Feudal Era. I wanted to make sure that...the well didn't close...," the boy whispers, his words catching, "...so that I..."

Inuyasha stops, and Kagome raises her eyes to his face, watching the hanyou try to fight the tears threatening to form. He wipes his sleeve quickly across his eyes, and hugs his knees.

The miko watches in silent torment at what she'd made the half-demon go through. What they'd _both_ gone through.

_If I'd just waited for him to explain...none of this would be happening. I could still have seen the guys...Inuyasha wouldn't have been sealed..._

Kagome closes her eyes tightly and wills herself not to cry. _He...he...Inuyasha spent 500 years pinned to a tree...by an arrow through the chest...to get to me...500 years!_

The miko opens her eyes and slowly reaches toward the hanyou, grabbing his ankle. Inuyasha looks up, surprise on his face as Kagome slowly stretches his leg out and pulls the boy down the bed. The half-demon's bright eyes continue to widen as the girl uncurls from her ball and crawls forward to lay next to him, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her head in his chest. Inuyasha hesitantly puts his arms around the girl.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "This is all my..."

A deep rumbling cuts off the miko's words. "Don't you _dare_ say this is your fault, Kagome," Inuyasha growls. She looks up at him in surprise. The hanyo glares. "I should have talked to you first, then..."

"But if I hadn't jumped to conclu..."

"Stop it," Inuyasha says shortly. He continues to glare angrily at the surprised girl before sighing. "I don't blame you for your reaction, Kagome. Not exactly the best way to instill trust--is it? To be seen with your ex-lover who is supposed to be dead, less than a day after you ask another to stay...," the boy says wryly.

Kagome stares--shocked. "But...but you didn't do anything, Inuyasha! I..."

The half-demon is already shaking his head. "No, Kagome. It was my own damn fault for not..."

"Why are you blaming yourself, Inuyasha! You were just doing what..."

"Will you stop making excuses for me, Kagome?! I should've..."

"That doesn't matter! You thought..."

"So?! That doesn't make it..."

"Yes, it does! Why won't you...?"

"Why won't _you_...?!"

"Well, I guess they're back to normal."

The squabbling pair turns to the doorway to see Shippo and Kajina standing in the opening, amused expressions on their faces. Kagome and Inuyasha start to blush, as they are still lying on the bed next to one another.

"Work things out, dear?" Kagome's mother asks, smiling at the pair as they sit up.

The girl's face continues to redden as she nods. "Yeah. It was..." A low growl from the boy beside her makes Kagome rethink her words. "...it was...both our faults," she whispers, hearing Inuyasha grunt quietly in agreement.

Shippo and Kajina nod. "That's kind of what we thought, too. But I still wish that we could have gotten to this point some other way...," the fox says sadly.

The other three keep quiet for several minutes, silently agreeing with the kitsune's words. Kajina breaks the silence.

"Did Inuyasha tell you what he and Shippo are going to do, dear?"

Kagome shakes her head, and sees the hanyou visibly cringe out of the corner of her eye. _I wonder what's wrong with him?_ she thinks. The girl finds out three seconds later, when her mother smiles.

"Inuyasha and Shippo are going to go to school."

* * *

Um...I've still got some things to wrap up apology-wise in the next chap...and other things, too... 


	8. Apology, Part Two

Hrmmm... That's all I'm going to say..._

* * *

_

_What?_

Kagome's brain has stalled. She can't seem to get past the word _school_. She turns to look at Inuyasha, who is determinedly staring in the other direction, with an expression that says he would like to hide under the bed. The miko turns back to her mother and Shippo, who are both smiling, the latter of whom also has a very excited expression on his face.

"What?" Kagome asks dumbly, as if she hadn't heard her mother.

Kajina gives her daughter a puzzled expression. "I said Inuyasha and Shippo are going to go to school, dear. Next year--with you and Youpai."

The miko frowns slightly. _This must be some sort of joke--right? They...they can't go...to..._

"What?" the girl asks again, her mind still not willing to accept what her mother has just told her.

The older woman tilts her head to the side. "Are you getting a cold or something, Kagome?" she asks, walking over to the girl's side of the bed and placing one hand on her daughter's forehead. "You don't feel warm... do you have a headache, dear? Maybe that's why you're having trouble understanding me."

The young miko stares blankly at her mother before her brain finally seems to kick in, and she stands abruptly.

"They can't go to school!" she yells, panic making her voice much higher. Kagome sees Inuyasha grimace and flatten his ears to his head, but it's Shippo that responds to her outburst.

"And why not?" the kitsune asks, a slightly arrogant tone resonating in his question.

The girl stares at the demon as if he's lost his mind. "Because...because..." Kagome stops her stuttering when she fails to come up with an excuse. _Any _excuse.

_They're demons...well, yes; but if Inuyasha and Shippo can fit in, then why can't they go to school? They don't know the material...home schooling. The two of them have almost five months, if they study hard enough... They can't fit in to the modern era...that's what __**you're**__ for, stupid..._

The miko closes her eyes, taking in a resigned breath. "See?" Shippo says, grinning. "You can't think of a reason why Inuyasha and I can't go with you to school. I want to see what you were always complaining about while we were looking for shards."

Kagome opens her dark eyes and glares at the fox on the other side of the room. The girl looks down at the half-demon on her bed, who is still adamantly avoiding her gaze, and fidgeting with one of her pillows. Kajina is staring at her daughter with a confused expression, wondering why the girl was upset. Suddenly, Kagome smiles.

"Oh...you'll see, Shippo," the miko says, turning back to the kitsune. Shippo blinks in surprise. Kagome was not wearing a happy grin. She was wearing an evil one.

------------------

"School?"

Kagome frowns when Inuyasha doesn't answer. She and the half-demon were lying on her bed again; the girl with her legs dangling off the end, while the boy's were propped against the wall at the top. Shippo and Kagome's mother had retreated back dowstairs, after the girl said that she and Inuyasha still had some things to talk about.

The miko tilts her head up, a pair of fuzzy, silver ears entering her line of sight. "Hello... Inuyasha?" she whispers. The boy grunts in response.

"It wasn't my idea...," he mumbles. Kagome can see the insides of his ears turning pink. "It was Shippo's. Little...big brat studied with Miroku and decided he likes learning..."

Despite herself, Kagome grins. Inuyasha was obviously as uncomfortable with the situation as she was. "Why did you agree then?" she asks gently.

The hanyou sighs. "What am I supposed to do all day when you're not here? What do I do even if you are? You'll be studying, so I...shouldn't bother you...," he whispers, and the girl catches the teasing in his voice. "...and what are you going to do after school? _More_ school, I think your mom said...I figured I'd at least know what I was doing for the next year this way..."

Kagome lays her head back down and stares at the ceiling. _That's right. Inuyasha and I are talking again, but I'm still...terribly hurt. There's still a deep ache in my chest...where my heart is. And... I'm so afraid. I don't think I could handle anymore..._ The miko swallows. _Do I still want...? the same thing?_ The girl feels her hands shaking and closes her fists tightly. _I can't make that decision right now...it's too soon. But...what do I tell Inuyasha?_

The hanyou speaks quietly, as if the boy could hear her thoughts of the past few minutes. "Don't worry, Kagome. I'm not going to ask anything of you until your ready. _If_ you're ever ready." The miko can hear the sadness in the half-demon's words. "I'm just glad that you don't hate me anymore..."

"Hate you?" Kagome says abruptly. "Why did you think I...?"

The girl trails off as she recalls the terrible things she had said and done to the half-demon. She feels her cheeks warming up as blatant shame colors them. Kagome closes her eyes.

"I'm...sorry. For making you think that, Inuyasha. I was just...very...very...hurt," the miko whispers. She doesn't hear anything but breathing from the hanyou behind her, so Kagome keeps speaking. "I didn't mean...I wouldn't... Don't you know that I could never hate you, Inuyasha?"

The girl keeps silent as the boy ponders her words. She hears a sigh after a few minutes, then movement as the half-demon shifts his body. Kagome opens her eyes to see him hovering over her, a sorrowful expression showing in his eyes.

"I was just...afraid that you would always look at me that way. And it would have been my own damn fault," the boy says, emotion making his voice strained. "I...I'm sorry, Kagome. For...for breaking your heart. For separating you from our friends. For...everything...I ever..."

Inuyasha shifts his gaze from the girl's as he says the last words, his cheeks blossoming in embarrassment. He twirls a few strands of her dark hair around his fingers, avoiding the miko's eyes that are staring intently at his face. The boy jumps slightly when he feels a soft palm against his cheek, and hesitantly looks back at Kagome.

The miko nods, trailing her fingers softly over the half-demon's skin. She smiles slightly before silently mouthing three words. Inuyasha is surprised that he can read them upside-down, but he feels his heart lighten at her response.

_Give me time..._

_----------------------_

"She will miss you terribly, and she wished she could have said goodbye properly, though that would have crushed her beyond words. You're her best friend--as close to her as a sister would have been."

Kagome nods, her eyes welling with tears. She had felt the exact same way about the demon slayer.

"Sango also said that she hopes that you will be happy, Kagome...whatever you decide," the boy whispers.

The miko keeps her eyes on the yard below her window, watching Sota playing with Buyo. She doesn't respond to Inuyasha's message from Sango, as they both know what the tajiya was referring to, and that it would do neither of them any good to discuss the slayer's last words.

"What about Miroku?" Kagome eventually asks.

They had already decided that Shippo would speak to the miko himself, as his message for the girl was probably different, since he was in Kagome's time now, and the pair had suffered an extremely embarrasing and awkward moment when the girl had asked if Kilala had wanted to give her message, not really expecting an answer, but feeling that she should ask anyway.

Inuyasha had fidgeted in place on the other side of the window before leaning over and placing a chaste kiss on the girl's cheek, pulling back quickly and blushing at the floor. Kagome had been lost and shocked for a few seconds before she realized that that was the only way the nekomata could speak to her. She quietly assured the hanyou that she wouldn't 'sit' him for delivering the demon-cat's message, before asking for the others'.

Kaede had asked Inuyasha to tell Kagome that she admired her strength and courage, especially since the girl had not been born into their world of wars and troubles, but chose to return to fight against evil anyway. The elder miko also hoped that Kagome would find happiness.

_I sense a theme here..._ the girl thinks as she waits for Inuyasha to speak. She finally turns to the hanyou, quirking an eyebrow as she notices the angry frown on his face.

"What?"

The half-demon raises his eyes quickly to the girl's before lowering them again, speaking with forced calm in his voice.

"_Miroku_...said that he will miss the encouragement you always gave to us, and your determination--especially in battle."

Inuyasha takes a deep breath, clenching his claws tightly together and gritting his teeth. "And I can't give you the rest of the message, because I'm not a perverted lecher like the monk is."

Kagome stares blankly at the hanyou before comprehension dawns on her face.

"He didn't?" she gasps, wonder in her voice.

The boy glares at her. "Let's just say that if Sango, Kilala, and Kikyo hadn't held me back, Miroku would only have one hand right now."

The miko stares for another second before slapping her hands over her mouth, trying in vain to hold in her laughter. Inuyasha crosses his arms and huffs, tapping his foot impatiently as he waits for the girl to calm down.

After five minutes, Kagome still can't stifle her giggles, and Inuyasha decides to go ahead and tell the girl about the last message.

"Kikyo also wished to tell you something."

Kagome sobers up instantly, her face falling into an impassive stare. "What?"

Inuyasha turns his face to the window, frowning slightly. "She...wanted to apologize for how she treated you when she first came back, and that she believes you will be a great priestess some day."

The girl nods, swallowing the lump in her throat. Kagome doesn't know what to say about the other miko's words to her, so she simply stays quiet. Inuyasha speaks again afer a few minutes.

"Also...," he says quietly, "...Kikyo wished for you...to watch over me."

Kagome feels her heart leap in her chest at the same time that her cheeks begin to warm up. She can already see Inuyasha's face reddening, and wonders if Kikyo knew what she was asking.

The miko decides that she did.

----------------------

"What do you mean, 'you don't know' ?"

Kagome flinches. Even without looking at the hanyou, the miko can still picture the anger on his face. She doesn't blame him.

"Just what I said, Inuyasha. I don't know how I was controlling my powers. I just...was."

The boy is speechless for several minutes before a deep-throated growl reverberates loudly around the girl's bedroom. Kagome continues to stare blankly at her textbooks lying on her desk, pointedly avoiding the angry demon's gaze.

"Kagome...," Inuyasha says, trying to maintain some level of calm, despite the rage he was feeling, "...did it occur to you that you could have _killed_ me?"

The girl risks a glance at the hanyou, who is sitting against the end of her bed. He's staring at his fists, which are clenched and shaking in his lap.

"It...occurred to me...," the miko whispers, swallowing the lump in her throat. She hears another growl and movement from the boy. Turning her head, Kagome sees that Inuyasha is now sitting on his hands.

"And you were just..._okay_ with this?" the hanyou growls.

Kagome sighs, putting her head into the palms of her hands. "Of course not. But I thought I was never going to see you again, and then all of a sudden you were here, and I was..._not happy_...about it. My anger just sort of took over my powers, and I had to force myself calm down or I really would have hurt you." The girl raises her eyes, her gaze connecting with the half-demon's.

Inuyasha can see the sorrow on the girl's face. _I've put her through so much...and I can't really blame Kagome. Being that upset, she could no more control her emotions and her powers, than I could control my transformations..._

The boy sighs, laying his head back against the bed and closing his eyes again. "Are...can you talk to someone? I mean, does your Gramps know of anyone who can help...who could train you?" The boy stops to give a wry laugh. "I'd rather not be subject to a pissed off Kagome again, if I can help it."

Kagome smiles a little, then frowns. "I...don't know. Of anyone, I mean. But I'll talk to Gramps, because you're right, Inuyasha. I need to know how to properly control my powers. It's dangerous, otherwise."

The half-demon nods, and the pair sits in silence for awhile, each lost to their own thoughts. Kagome breaks the silence.

"What did you need to talk to Miroku about?" she asks.

The miko had been replaying everything from the day before the well had sealed, and wondered why Inuyasha hadn't mentioned what he'd needed to talk to the monk about.

"I...I can't tell you...," the boy says vaguely, turning to the window to hide his expression.

Kagome frowns. "Why not? What...?"

"No, Kagome. It's...it's not important."

The miko is about to protest at the half-demon's reluctance, but Inuyasha turns to look at her. Kagome only just stifles her gasp at the troubled look on his face.

"I'll tell you later, sometime...maybe..."

The girl stares in shocked silence as the boy stands and quietly leaves the room.

----------------

"Shippo? Have you seen Inuyasha?"

Kagome sits down on the sofa next to the fox, and watches as the boy is beaten by her brother at the racing game they were playing.

"He's in the Goshinboku, I think," the kitsune replies, growling under his breath as Sota crosses the finish line.

"Ha! See, Shippo. I told you that my car was better," the boy boasts, puffing his chest out a little. The demon rolls his eyes.

"Fine, kid. But let's go two-out-of-three, and we'll just see who..."

"Sota? Can I speak to Shippo for a few minutes? Alone?" Both boys turn to the miko, slight surprise on their faces. "Go get you two something to snack on," Kagome says, waving one hand vaguely in the direction of the kitchen.

Sota pouts, but leaves the room anyway. Shippo watches the girl in silence, wondering at the frown on her face. It takes the miko a few minutes to speak.

"Shippo? Do you know what Inuyasha wanted to talk to Miroku about?"

The fox pales slightly, but keeps his words steady when he answers. "I take it that Inuyasha didn't tell you?" he whispers. Kagome shakes her head. Shippo nods.

"I found out after he was sealed; Miroku told me. But...I think it's best that Inuyasha tell you. It's not my place," the kitsune says, seeing the girl scowl at him.

Kagome holds her glare for a few moments before sighing. "Okay." She looks back toward the kitchen and--hearing her brother still occupied--asks her other question. "What message did you have for me, Shippo? Inuyasha said to let you tell me, since it had probably changed since he was sealed."

The fox smirks a little, then gives up hiding his amusement and grins widely. "That's true. The message I gave Inuyasha was to tell you that I missed you lots, and he was supposed to hug you for an hour, without letting go," the boy says.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," the girl murmurs, smiling.

Shippo rolls his eyes. "I was a kid, Kagome. What did you expect?" The fox leans back against the couch, letting out a breath. He looks back at the miko with a serious expression.

"If I had been older, I would have told Inuyasha to tell you that the two of you saved my life. No telling where I would have ended up, if you and he hadn't taken me with you," the kitsune says. Kagome stares at him in awe. The fox nods.

"It's true. How long do you think a child would have lasted in our world, alone? Possibly a little longer than a human--since I'm a demon--but probably no more than a year. Maybe not that. I owe you both more than I can ever say."

The girl swallows the lump in her throat as tears start to form in her dark eyes. Shippo smiles a little.

"Besides thanking you for that, I would have said that I will miss you terribly...and...," Shippo stops to take a breath, "...I hope you...weerr reee nuuffyyy weefff nnnooohhhaaaazzuu."

"What?" Kagome asks. The fox had mumbled his last words.

Shippo takes another breath. "I said, that...IhopeyouwillbehappywithInuyasha," he repeats, rushing through the sentence this time.

Kagome stares for a minute before her brain processes the demon's words. Her face goes scarlet.

"Shippo...I...I don't know...now," the girl says, shaking her head before staring at her lap. "It's...I don't know what I want...anymore. I..." Quiet laughter stops the girl's rambling, and she looks up, her eyes narrowing at the demon beside her. "What's so funny?"

Shippo stops laughing just long enough to answer. "Nothing," he says, smiling widely at the miko. Kagome is about to argue with him when her brother suddenly comes back into the room, a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in one hand, two bottles of juice in the other.

"Finished talking, sis?" the boy asks, sitting down on the other side of the fox. Shippo turns to her with an expectant grin. Kagome scowls.

"Yes," she says abruptly, standing and walking out the front door.

----------------------

"Three daughters, named..."

"Serves the lech right. Make him worry about all those guys like him wandering around," Inuyasha mumbles.

Kagome giggles, while Shippo rolls his eyes.

"Wait til it's you," the fox whispers, so only the hanyou can hear. He smirks when Inuyasha blushes and glowers at him.

"As I was saying...Sango and Miroku had three daughters: Horoshi, Mayumi, and Alanai. They each grew up and married boys from the new demon slayer village that we built. Kaede witnessed the birth of Horoshi, but died shortly after."

Kagome's smile falls when she hears this news. She had loved the old miko dearly. Kaede was her first friend and mentor in the Feudal Era.

Despite himself, Inuyasha's pointed ears start to droop. The demon had never been very close to the elder priestess, but he did admire her knowledge of medicines and her advice--even if he didn't always take it.

Shippo gives the pair a few minutes to reminisce before going on in a quieter voice. "We left her village five years after you were sealed, Inuyasha, to rebuild Sango's home. Kikyo took over her sister's role as priestess, so there was really no need for us to stay--though we did visit every once in awhile."

The hanyou nods. He had been wondering what Kikyo would do with her second chance. It seemed that protecting others was still what she wanted. Though the miko wouldn't have to carry the weight of the _Shikon no Tama_ anymore.

"She got married."

The half-demon glances up, startled. "What?"

Shippo gives a hesitant grin, noticing that Kagome isn't making eye contact, choosing instead to concentrate her efforts on cutting up remnants of her rice ball into the smallest pieces possible. The fox can see her pulse beating quickly in her throat.

Inuyasha tilts his head to the side. "To who?" he asks, narrowing his eyes a little.

The kitsune takes a breath, smiling. "You two are not going to believe this..."

Now even Kagome is interested. "Who?" she asks, looking up.

"Guess."

Inuyasha and Kagome glare at the demon sitting oppostie them. Shippo has the smile of someone who knows that he's got something tempting, and is holding it just out of others' reach.

Kagome shrugs. "Sesshomaru?" The two demons look at her in horror. The girl rolls her eyes. "You said to guess. He's the only one I could think of, besides..."

"Koga."

The miko turns her head, frowning slightly. Inuyasha sounded too certain. Too..._sure_ of his answer. Kagome turns back to Shippo, expectanting a vehement 'no,' but receives a shock instead. The fox is grinning.

"Koga?" she repeats, her astonishment obvious.

The demon nods. "Yep. Shocked us, too. But Koga had been hanging around for a long time. Seems _someone_ asked him to keep an eye on things," Shippo says, blatantly staring at a blushing hanyou.

Inuyasha is silent for several minutes before he turns back to the others. "Fine," he huffs, crossing his arms. "I asked Koga to keep watch over you guys. Is there something wrong with wanting to make sure your friends will be okay?"

Kagome and Shippo exchange an amused glance before shaking their heads.

"No, Inuyasha; there's nothing wrong with that," Kagome whispers. "But I don't think you saw this coming..."

The hanyou watches the girl silently for a moment before shrugging. "Was she happy with him, Shippo?" he asks, turning to other demon.

The fox nods. "Yes. Surprisingly so. Apparently Kikyo actually _liked_ all the attention Koga gave her. Unlike you, Kagome, she didn't ever seem to tire of his doting attitude."

The girl blushes a little before a wave of giggles overcomes her. "That's one couple I never would have thought of," she mumbles, trying to stifle more of her laughter.

The boys give up waiting for the miko to stop her giggles, finally leaving the kitchen when Kagome falls off her chair to the floor five minutes later.

* * *

Just another hrmmmmm... 


	9. Exposure

#9. Hrmmm... Did I say that already?

* * *

Kagome shivers. _How did I get suckered into this? I am not doing this by myself..._

"I'm gonna see if Youpai wants to come," the miko says, heading out of the kitchen. Kajina hears the click of a phone receiver being picked up, and smiles to herself before turning to the three boys sitting at the table.

"Did you ever go to the mall when you visited before, Inuyasha?" Kagome's mom asks, placing three plates of bacon and eggs in front of her son and the two demons.

The hanyou shakes his head as he digs into his breakfast. His appetite had mysteriously returned since he and Kagome had started talking to each other again, two weeks before.

"No. I only went to Kagome's school and back," he says, reaching for the pan of biscuits Kajina was placing on the table. The woman smiles and shakes her head before sitting down.

"What?" Inuyasha asks, between mouthfuls of food.

"Nothing," the woman responds, taking a bite out of her own biscuit.

"Is that the place that has all those different little rooms that sell different things?" Shippo asks, also trying to hide his smile at the hanyou's seemingly famished demeanor.

"Yeah. The mall sells all kinds of things: clothes, games, stuff for the house. Everything," Sota says. The boy spreads some grape jelly on his bread before turning to his mother. "Do I have to go mom? I wanted to go over to Sutui's house today; he got the new _Zombies_ game that I've been wanting to play."

Kajina frowns slightly at her son. "Yes, dear. You need some summer clothes, and supplies are on sale for school next year, since classes just let out. Plus, you need to help Inuyasha and Shippo try things on, since Kagome won't be able to, um... show them how everything is supposed to fit."

The older woman blushes as her youngest starts to giggle. The demons just exchange confused glances across the table, wondering what was so funny.

"Youpai said she'd be ready in an hour, and Reni can come along, Sota, if you want him to," Kagome says, coming back into the kitchen and sitting down beside Inuyasha. She glares at him. Her bacon is missing.

"Oooo...ok, sis. Can we go in _Sparks_ before we leave? Please?" Sota asks, giving his sister his best puppy-dog face.

The girl rolls her eyes and turns her glare on her mother. "I cannot _believe_ you talked me into this," she mumbles, snatching a biscuit from Inuyasha and sticking her tongue out at him when he stares at her in shock. "You stole my bacon."

The hanyou glowers, crossing his arms and slumping down in the chair. Kajina grins.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I really need to get some work done today. Tutoring the boys doesn't leave me with a lot of time, even though they're both helping out around here," she says, smiling at the demons. Inuyasha and Shippo blush while the woman continues speaking. "I'm lucky that I have a job where I can work at home, but I _do_ still have to work. You taking them shopping will help out a lot, Kagome."

The young miko looks up at her mother, sighing in defeat. "Alright, mom. But I won't be responsible if I come home with less people than I left with."

Kajina laughs, patting her daughter on the head as she walks to the sink. Sota rolls his eyes, standing from the table and heading upstairs to get ready. Kagome turns to Shippo and Inuyasha, smiling at the confused looks they're giving her before her expression turns serious.

"I need you guys to listen to what I tell you, since this is the first time you've really been away from the shrine," Kagome says, thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong today. "And no arguments, please, Inuyasha," she asks, seeing the hanyou about to speak. The half-demon scowls, and goes back to his slumping posture.

"Will there be a lot of humans?" Shippo asks. He stands and takes the empty plates off the table, carrying them over to the sink to help Kajina with the dishes.

"You have no idea," Kagome mumbles. She rests her head on the table for a minute, staring blankly at the floor. The girl notices her socked feet, then Inuyasha's bare ones. The girl frowns, lifting her head and turning to look at the kitsune. "You guys have to wear shoes."

Both demons turn their heads, surprised. "What?" Inuyasha asks. Kagome thought she heard a hint of fear in his voice.

"The stores won't let you in if you're not wearing shoes."

"You two can borrow some of Kagome's father's. You should all wear about the same size," Kajina says, drying her hands on a towel and leaving the room. She returnes a few minutes later with a pair of sandals in each hand. "These will do for now, but we'd better add 'shoes' to the list, Kagome." The girl nods, watching Inuyasha and Shippo slide the leather-strapped footwear onto their feet.

The hanyou scowls. "I don't think I've ever worn _anything_ on my feet before," he says, wiggling his toes.

Kagome sighs. "You'd better get used to it; you'll have to wear them in school, too."

Inuyasha turns to look at the girl, and sees her frowning at his feet, a slight sadness in her eyes. He reaches over and lays his hand on top of hers, speaking quietly when she looks up at him. "I chose this--remember?" he says, squeezing her fingers.

Kagome feels her cheeks starting to burn, and quickly looks away, avoiding Shippo's and her mother's eyes as well. Everyone in the kitchen knew the difference between what Inuyasha had said, and what the half-demon had actually meant...

-------------------

"Reni! Kagome and the others will be here any minute!"

Youpai walks into her bedroom and grabs her purse before running downstairs and opening the front door. She sees Kajina's van pull up a second later, and Kagome stick her arm out the window, then turn to say something to the other occupants.

"They're here, Reni! Come _on_!" Youpai's little brother comes bounding down the stairs, mumbling something about having to save his game. The girl rolls her eyes. "We'll be back later this afternoon, mom!" the girl says, hearing a muffled 'Have fun!' from her mother's bedroom as she closes the door.

Reni skips ahead of his sister, his dark hair falling in his eyes each time a foot lands. Youpai sighs. Her mother wanted the boy to get a haircut, and the girl knew she was going to have a problem, especially when he saw Shippo's and Inuyasha's hair.

The girl suddenly frowns, wondering how she was going to explain certain _features _that the demons had. Her uneasiness is changed to astonishment as she opens the passenger-side door to the van and looks inside, her mouth falling open and her eyes widening.

"What...what...?"

"I'll explain later," Kagome mumbles, motioning for her friend to take the front seat while her brother hops over the older boys to join Sota in the back. Reni stares at the two demons, his eyes wide as he takes in their waist-length hair.

"Your mom lets you grow it that long?" he asks wonderingly.

Shippo grins. "Yep; says it makes me look older," he says, winking at the boy. Reni nods before Sota gets his attention with a video game he had brought along.

Youpai continues to stare as Kagome starts the car and pulls onto the street. "Kitsune magic," the miko whispers, seeing the other girl nods hesitantly out of the corner of her eye. She sighs.

Kagome had been wondering how she was going to keep other humans from noticing certain ... _things_--mostly Shippo's tail. The boy had asked her what was wrong when she continued to stare at him after breakfast, grinning mischievously when she explained.

Two seconds later, Shippo was a human. Well, he looked human, at least. The fox no longer had his claws, pointed ears, fangs, or tail. He grinned again when the girl's gaze shifted to Inuyasha, and before she could utter a word, the hanyou was in his human form.

"It's just an illusion," he said, when the other boy glared. "You can still see, hear, and smell better than even me, I think," he said. This seemed reasonable to the half-demon, and he hadn't said a word about it since. Kagome, however, had not been happy.

_Having to hide who you are, guys? It's not fair. Not...right..._

The girl had been disturbed by the idea, but couldn't currently see a way around it. As a priest, her grandfather had a few connections, but none of them had ever mentioned the existence of youkai--even the miko she was now studying under. If demons still existed in her time, Kagome didn't know where they were, or even how she could contact them without exposing them to humans.

The girl sighs, frowning to herself before glancing in the rearview mirror, noticing Inuyasha's dark gaze on hers from the seat behind her. She stares at him for several seconds before switching back to the road. A voice in her ear makes her jump.

"Stop thinking about it."

"About what? And don't do that when I'm driving, Inuyasha. A car wreck is not something we want to be in," she replies, making a turn into the mall parking lot.

"You know what," he growls, keeping his position for a few more seconds.

The boy finds himself staring at Kagome's neck--which is exposed because of the sleeveless shirt she's wearing. Inuyasha suddenly realizes what he's doing and sits back quickly, but not before Shippo gives him a sly grin. The hanyou ignores the fox and stares out the window, his eyes widening.

"That's where we're going?"

-------------------

"Is this the last store?"

"Yeah; I don't think we can fit anymore packages into the car," Kagome says tiredly.

The girl looks down at the dozen bags at her feet, and thinks about the two trips to the car they'd made already. The small group had gotten summer things for Sota and school supplies for all of them, including backpacks for Inuyasha and Shippo. Kagome had almost laughed aloud when they'd argued over which colors they wanted, never in her wildest dreams imagining that she'd be in this position.

The younger boys were now in _Sparks_, playing video games while the girls waited on the two demons. Sota had shown them how clothing was supposed to fit, while Youpai had dragged her brother to get his hair cut. The boy had put up fuss until his sister promised to get him some ice cream. Kagome had been annoyed, because Sota found out, then he, Shippo, and Inuyasha all wanted some, too.

"Why does your mom want dress kimonos for them?" Youpai asks, leaning against the clothes rack next to Kagome.

The other girl shrugs. "I don't know; she just said to get them some." The girl yawns, glancing at her watch. _It's almost 6 o'clock... That means we've been here almost 7 hours... _she thinks, resting her head on one hand. A nudge in her ribs makes Kagome turn around, her eyes widening at what she was seeing.

Shippo has exited the dressing rooms, and was now giving smirking glances to a group of giggling girls at the front of the store. The boy was wearing dark green hakamas and a matching haori, which had been left open over a white underkimono. The kitsune looked like he'd just stepped out of Feudal Japan.

"Well? What do you think?" he asks, walking toward Kagome and Youpai and turning in a slow circle.

Kagome gives the fox a smile, then turns to Youpai, trying to hide her laughs when she sees the other girl blushing lightly.

The squeak of a door gets her attention, and Kagome looks past the fox, her mouth dropping open as Inuyasha leaves the dressing room. A low whistle behind the girl tells her that she wasn't the only one admiring what she was seeing.

Inuyasha was wearing crimson hakamas with a matching haori, also with a white underkimono. The outfit was very similar to the boy's Robe of the Fire-Rat, but darker and with a more formal cut. Another nudge in the ribs from Youpai tells Kagome that she still has her mouth open.

Closing it quickly, Kagome tries to hide the warmth creeping into her cheeks as the hanyou walks toward her. "Have a thing for red?" she asks teasingly, hoping that her voice sounded more steady to him than it did inside her head.

Inuyasha narrows his eyes at her for a second before shrugging, his gaze shifting to the rest of the store. He frowns, then turns back to Kagome, eyeing the dozen or so girls gawking at him.

"Why is everyone staring?" he asks, a sudden nervous edge to his voice.

Kagome turns, watching in amusement as the the girls quickly return to their browsing. She eyes the store clerk for a few seconds, frowning slightly at the way the woman was looking at the two demons. Shaking off the feeling, the miko looks back at Inuyasha with a smile.

"They like what they see," she replies, giggling lightly when the half-demon gives her a confused look.

"I'll explain it to him," Shippo says, grinning as he grabs Inuyasha's arm and drags the other boy back to the dressing rooms.

Kagome exchanges an amused glance with Youpai as she gathers their bags and heads toward the checkout counter. The bespeckled woman behind it smiles sweetly. "Just the two formal outfits, then?" she asks.

Kagome nods, then sighs when the woman tells her the price. She hands the clerk the money, watching the woman carefully. Something bothered the girl about the way the woman kept eyeing the dressing rooms, but the boys return before Kagome can figure out why.

"Is this the last store? I'm starting to get hungry...," Inuyasha says, rubbing his stomach absently.

Kagome rolls her eyes. "Yes; I'll call mom and see if she wants us to pick something up."

The boys give her quizzical looks as the clerk bags up their robes. "What does that mean?" Shippo asks. The woman behind the desk raises one brow at the boy, but doesn't say anything.

Kagome glares at the two demons, effectively silencing them with the deadly look. She thanks the woman as she hands them their bags, and the foursome leaves the store, heading for the arcade to pick up the two youngest.

"Do you guys want to come over for dinner?" Kagome asks, glancing back at Youpai, who is walking beside the kitsune. The other girl sighs.

"Maybe some other time, Kagome. Mom's probably wondering where we've been all day."

"I know; I didn't think it would take this long, either," the girl says, stopping before the escalators to let a small, slightly flat-faced man get on before them. The man grins, then nods, tilting his bowler hat up at the girl.

"Where have I seen him?" Shippo asks, leaning forward to whisper in the girl's ear.

"I know; he looks familiar...," Inuyasha adds, eyeing the man as they reach the next floor and step off.

Kagome shakes her head, her eyes following the small man as he heads toward an electronics store. She sighs, wondering if her uneasiness with the clerk and the tiny man was due to the fact that she'd been on her feet all day. Then she laughs, recalling the fact that she used to do be on her feet every day.

"What's so funny?" Inuyasha asks.

Kagome shrugs. "Nothing. Just...remembering...," she says, smiling when the others look at her with concern. "Let's just get Sota and Reni and go home. It's been a long day."

----------------

"No, Inuyasha. You have to subtract what's in the parenthesis before you square it," Kagome says, pointing to the algebra homework her mother had given the two demons.

The boy growls lightly. "Are you really the best one to be explaining this to me, Kagome? Last I checked, you were always having trouble with math yourself," he says, laughing as he dodges the girl's attempt to thump him on the ear.

The girl glares and playfully attempts to wring the boy's neck, chasing him around the living room until he suddenly turns and grabs her wrists, pulling her closer to him.

The pair stares at one another in slight surprise, a slow blush creeping onto both of their cheeks. The sound of Shippo's footsteps breaks the silence, and Inuyasha quickly lets go of the girl.

"I'm gonna...uh, get ready for bed," Kagome says, turning toward the door to the living room as the fox walks in. The boy catches the color on the others faces and grins at the hanyou as the girl heads upstairs.

"What was that?" Shippo asks, smirking at the back of Inuyasha's head as he heads back to his homework. The half-demon chooses to grunt instead of answer properly.

The fox shakes his head, smiling at the insides of the half-demon's ears, which are turning pink. Shippo suddenly frowns, tilting his head to the side as he sees Inuyasha's ears perk up.

"What's that?" he asks, turning back toward the hallway and the front door.

"I...it sounds like..."

Inuyasha doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as the front door suddenly bursts open and half-a-dozen men barge in, aiming large, shiny, black things at them. Several _popping_ noises instantly fill the air, and Inuyasha and Shippo gasp as they feel small pinpricks of pain along their chests and necks. Before they can utter a word, both demons drop to the ground, unconscious.

Kagome comes flying out of her bedroom after hearing the commotion downstairs, meeting her mother on the landing. They share a frightened look--turning toward the front door--and the girl's heart leaps into her throat.

Inuyasha and Shippo are being hurried out of the house, carried on the shoulders of men dressed in black fatigues, identical masks covering each of their faces...

* * *

La la la... 


	10. Familiar Faces

This one's a little shorter than the others, but I wanted to end it where I did. I'm gonna try to update it again soon, while the plot is fresh in my head. Uh...I think that's all. Enjoy.

* * *

Kagome is hysterical.

She'd hadn't yet made it into her pajamas before she heard the commotion downstairs, running out to the landing and exchanging a frightened glance with her mother before bolting after the strange men who had taken her demons.

Kajina had instantly headed for the phone--to call the police--not realizing that her daughter had gone out the front door in her bare feet.

The young miko had seen a black van heading up the street, it's wheels leaving marks on the pavement. Kagome had sprinted after them, panic making her ignore her common sense as she ran up the sidewalk, screaming the boy's names as she rounded the corner and saw the van disappear around another.

Fighting to keep herself calm--and not having it remotely work--Kagome had run back to her house, just as her mother got off the phone.

"The police are sending someone, but they weren't familiar with this...group. I think...I think that it has something to do with Inuyasha and Shippo being demons," Kajina says, bringing both hands to her face and closing her eyes as she tries to make sense of what she saw.

Kagome nods, then reaches up and grabs handfuls of her hair as tears start to fall down her cheeks. "It's all my fault. If I..."

"What's going on?"

Kagome and Kajina turn to the stairs, temporarily struck mute as Sota sleepily descends, rubbing his eyes. "I heard a lot of noise," the boy says, frowning as he glances back and forth between his mother and sister. "Where's Shippo? He was gonna bring me a glass of water."

Both of the women remain silent while Sota continues to look at them, his frown deepening. Eventually Kajina says, "Come with me, Sota. I need to tell you something, but let's get your water first."

Kagome watches in silence as her mother leads the boy into the kitchen, an alarmed look starting to come onto his young face. Feeling her heart clench painfully, the miko shakes her head, wondering how in the world she's supposed to find the boys.

"You could not have stopped them. They would have hit you too, if you had gotten in their way. There was also a real chance that they might have killed you outright."

The girl turns, staring at the figure in the open doorway that she had forgotten to close. The miko frowns when she recognizes the man she had seen in the mall.

"I...I saw you this afternoon," she says, glaring at him through her tears. "What have you done with them?"

The man smiles sadly at Kagome. "I was...picking something up, earlier...," he replies, taking his bowler hat from his head and holding it between his hands. "...but I have nothing to do with your kidnapped youkai." The man continues, ignoring Kagome's gasp. "The police will not be able to help you, though. The _Hisashi no Shorai_ do not exist."

"The...what?" Kagome asks, flinching as she hears Sota cry out, and glass shattering. The girl somehow manages to keep her composure, even when her brother begins to sob loudly, making her own tears worse.

"The _Hisashi no Shorai_. The Eaves of the Future. They do not exist."

The girl frowns, not understanding what the small man was getting at, since he obviously knew they existed, and so did she. "What?" she asks again, shaking her head. Having Inuyasha and Shippo kidnapped from under her nose left the girl unable to function properly.

The flat-faced man sighs. "This will be easier if you come with me," he says, holding one small hand out to her.

Kagome stares at the man, then shifts her gaze to his hand, frowning. "Why?" she says after a moment, narrowing her eyes at him.

The man sighs again. "This will be much easier if you just cooperate, Kagome."

The miko feels a chill run up her spine. "How...how do you know my name?" she asks, trying to hold her voice steady.

"I know much more than that, girl." The man brings one hand up to his nose, pressing the portion just in front of his eyes in irritation. "He did not say you would be this difficult."

"Who? Who said I wouldn't be difficult?" Kagome asks, now wanting to know who this man worked for. His answer, though, catches her completely off-guard.

"Sesshomaru."

-----------------------------

Kagome shivers, tightening her hand on her brother's. Sota returns her squeeze, shifting his legs so that he's leaning against his sister. He brings up the sleeve of his jacket to wipe his eyes.

"How far is it?" he whispers, trying to keep his voice low so that the slightly-green looking man sitting in the front seat of the black car, talking to a very wide man with no hair won't hear.

"I don't..."

Kagome stops as the small man turns to answer the boy's question.

"Lord Sesshomaru's estate is some distance away. We will have to use another means to get there."

The miko frowns, wondering what the man meant, and why he was in the mall that afternoon, if Sesshomaru's place was so far away. Deciding that she and Sota would find out soon enough, the girl lifts her free arm and places it around her brother's shoulders, kissing him quickly on the top of the head, trying to calm both of their nerves.

"How does Sesshomaru even know...?"

"He will explain that himself, when you see him," the man says. He holds the girl's gaze for a few more seconds before looking away, the sound of quiet clicking floating from the front of the car.

Kagome keeps her eyes on the back of his head for a minute longer before she glances away, staring out the dark windows and watching the lights of Tokyo passing around them.

When the miko had heard that Sesshomaru was this guy's boss, her attitude had changed completely. After she got over her initial shock at hearing that the demon was still alive--and apparently living in Japan somewhere--the girl stopped questioning bowler-hat man, and demanded that she be taken to the taiyoukai. The man--Risuto--had given her an annoyed look, telling her that was what he had been trying to do all along.

The miko had ignored this, heading into the kitchen to tell her mother that she was going to see Inuyasha's brother. Kajina and Sota had been shocked as well, as they had heard about the demon from Kagome, but had no idea that he was even still alive in this time.

As soon as she finished explaining that the man behind her worked for Sesshomaru, Kagome said that he wanted to see her, and that she was going. Kajina didn't object until Sota announced that he wanted to go as well.

The boy waited patiently while his mother and sister gave several reasons why he couldn't: that it was late; it might be dangerous; that he was too young.

Sota waited until the women were finished before responding in a low and serious tone, something like what Inuyasha might have used, to make his point. The boy said that he was just as worried about the inu-hanyou and the kitsune as they were, and that Kagome shouldn't go alone.

Kajina had to wait for the police, and could always tell them that the siblings had been taken as well, if she needed to, which would be easier to explain to their grandfather, if he should happen to wake up while the police were there.

Kagome and Sota could always tell him the truth when they returned, and it wouldn't look as suspicious to the officers if all four of the persons under age 18 in the house were kidnapped, instead of the just the ones that could give the strange men the most trouble.

To Sota's eyes, it seemed only logical that he be allowed to go with his sister.

Kajina and Kagome hadn't been particularly pleased with the boy's statement, especially after Risuto had said that the kids wouldn't be in any danger. Letting a resigned sigh escape her lips, Kajina had relented, making Sota promise to return home afterward, no matter what the demon said to them.

Scowling, the boy had agreed.

Now the siblings were riding in one of Sesshomaru's cars, but to where, the girl didn't know.

Risuto had left the house while Sota went upstairs to change and Kagome had grabbed their coats, whispering a promise to her mother that they would be ok, and would return as soon as possible.

Kajina had nodded, too anxious to do anything more than hug her son and daughter before they left the house a few minutes later.

Kagome and Sota had been surprised when they descended the shrine steps and saw a large man in jeans and a dinner jacket leaning against an unassuming black car, smoking a cigarette as if he had nothing more to concern him than how much cooler the air was turning.

The bald man had given Sota a slightly confused look, raising one brow before shrugging and opening the door for the kids. Risuto had gotten into the front, and the car had taken off, heading for an unknown destination.

Kagome chokes back a sigh, absently stroking her brother's hair, trying to keep her composure. She feels the prickle of tears start behind her eyes as her mind strays to her two demons, wondering where they were, and if she would ever see Inuyasha and Shippo again.

----------------------------

_Uhhhnnnnnn...where am I?_

Inuyasha forces open his eyes, almost immediately closing them again as a splitting headache makes his head spin. He takes a shaky breath, making himself swallow, even though his throat is dry.

Since he needs a few minutes to conquer his nausea, the hanyou perks his silver ears, swiveling them to focus on the room he's in.

The boy can hear shallow breaths coming from his left, and confirms that the person is Shippo--probably still knocked out--judging from the scent the half-demon's nose is taking in.

A soft _drip, drip _can be heard above his head, and muffled whispering from his left, though Inuyasha can't hear what the voices are saying. His sensitive nose also takes in an acrid smell, that might burn if he was to get a stronger whiff of it.

Distant humming can be heard all around him, before something he's learned is an air conditioner clicks on, and the boy feels his skin rise in response, as cooled air flows over it.

_Wait a minute... Why...?_

Inuyasha risks his nausea to see where he is, slowly cracking his eyes, then opening them all the way.

The hanyou feels his heart jump into his throat.

He and Shippo are the center of a small, rectangular room, with lights hanging from the ceiling, at the end of long arms. A long, slightly orange mirror on the wall on his left reflects the room back to him, as does the plain, white, tiled floor, even though the lights are dimmed. Two metal tables a few feet in front of them hold various items, most of which Inuyasha had never seen, though he has to stifle a shudder at the ones he does recognize.

A third table nearer to the wall is holding what the boy assumes is his and the kitsune's clothing, which he confirms by glancing downward, his cheeks burning when he sees that he's only wearing the boxers he had gotten that morning.

His embarrassment is tempered somewhat by the strange round circles that are stuck to his torso and forehead--connected by small wires to a machine on his immediate right.

It's altered completely when he sees that his wrists and ankles are bound to the angled table he's lying on by thick straps, and that a similar collar of metal is around his neck, above his beaded necklace.

Feeling a familiar scowl contorting his features--and an incensed growl coming from his throat to match it--the boy flexes his arms, intending to break free and get out of this place and back to Kagome.

His sudden shock when the bands refuse to give is overrun by his alarm when a door opens behind him, and a woman walks in--her heels clicking on the floor as she approaches the hanyou.

She smiles when the boy turns his head, his face lasping into shock again, when he sees who is standing next to him.

"You...you?"

* * *

Um...ok... :) 


	11. Who They Really Are

* * *

#11. Hrm...I don't think I really have anything to say before this one. Dozo!

* * *

Kagome grabs her hair, pulling it into a low ponytail as the helicopter's rotors whip the air past her and Sota's faces. The siblings follow the short man as he walks in front of them, his bowler hat held against one leg, while his other hand holds a small bag over his shoulder. The girl turns to see the bald man who had been driving the car--Tsuyosa--cut the aircrafts' engine, then hop onto the roof and start after them.

"All this belongs to Sesshomaru?!" Kagome yells over the dying roar of the machine.

The man in front of her turns his head halfway and nods at her, then faces forward again and continues to doorway on the other side of the roof.

The girl frowns slightly to herself as she remembers the vast exspanse of land they had flown over to get to the sprawling mansion built at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Kagome knew the mountain was large, but she never quite realized how far away it was until that night.

"Does he look like ani?"

The girl blinks a few times in confusion as Sota's words sink in, turning another frown on the boy. It takes her almost a full minute to realize that he was talking about Inuyasha, the girl's cheeks gaining a quick warmth at how the boy was referring to the hanyou.

Because--despite the miko and the half-demon's prolonged fight--her brother had never changed his opinion of the other boy, or--apparently--his idea of Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship.

Sota was referring to Inuyasha as an elder brother.

The miko forces herself to smile at her sibling, and chooses to ignore the familiar reference in favor of making him feel more at ease in their current situation.

"Yes, Sota, he does. They both look like their father."

The boy nods, setting his face determinedly as Risuto opens the door and ushers them inside, waiting until Tsuyosa joins them before closing out the chilly night sky.

The foursome heads down a long staircase, finally exiting through another door after several minutes, and stepping into what appears to be an hallway.

"I'll be downstairs," Tsuyosa says, closing the door behind them before walking away, heading for what seems to be another staircase at the far end of the hall.

Risuto nods, then turns to the siblings.

"Follow me and don't touch anything, no matter how interesting it looks."

Kagome glares at the back of the man's head as he starts to walk away, biting back a smart reply at his clipped attitude. She exchanges a quick glance with her brother--who rolls his eyes--bringing a small smile to his sister's face as the two head after the man.

(_change_)

"Yes, demon."

Inuyasha glares at the woman they had seen earlier that afternoon, in the store where they had bought their formal robes.

"What do you want with us?" he growls, baring his fangs and trying again to pull his arms free as the woman turns to the machine standing on his right side.

She doesn't answer the boy for several seconds, choosing instead to press a few buttons with her manicured nails. The woman pouts slightly when the figures on the light-green screen change, tapping one finger against her cheek before she removes her glasses and places them on her head, pushing her short, light hair behind her ears then straightening her white blouse, before she turns back to the hanyou.

"Have you always lived here?"

_What?_

Inuyasha's glare slowly fades, as he was caught off-guard by the woman's question. He blinks at her, wondering why she wanted to know how long he'd been here.

Feeling a frown slowly come onto his face, Inuyasha opens his mouth to tell her in shorter words to 'mind her own business,' but a moan from his other side gets the pairs' attention.

"Unnnnnn..."

"Ah... I see the other one has woken. Tell me, young demon, just what kind of youkai you are."

Inuyasha feels surprise again taking over his expression, for the second time in less than a minute. He turns his head to the kitsune, watching the fox have the same reactions as he did when he woke up.

Shippo blinks a few times, then quickly closes his eyes, his breathing shallow and uneven. Inuyasha sees the boy's brow come together, disoriented and confused by the sensations his ears and nose were bringing him.

"Don't say anything."

The fox turns his head toward his friend and silently mouths the other boy's name before attempting to say it out loud.

"I...?"

"Shut up, runt. I said not to say anything."

Shippo slowly opens his eyes, blinking several times before he focuses on the hanyou, who is almost glaring at him. The kitsune takes in Inuyasha's noticeable lack of clothing and his bindings, before turning to look at his own body, a sudden spike in the fox's scent telling the half-demon that his friend was just as nervous as he was.

After half-heartedly trying to loosen the metal straps on his wrists and finding them not giving at all, Shippo turns back to Inuyasha and finally notices the woman standing on his other side. The fox frowns, his memory working to place her features.

"You...you're the woman from the store...," he mumbles, quickly catching the half-demon's gaze for confirmation, rather than waiting for her to speak.

Inuyasha imperceptively nods, feeling vaguely that it was a mistake to admit that they had seen the woman that afternoon. He and Shippo had been human then, and she shouldn't know what they looked like, in their demon forms. Turning back to her, the hanyou frowns again at the grin slowly spreading across the woman's face.

"Yes, youkai. And you two are the young men that were trying on my robes. Strange that you no longer look like humans; don't you think?"

The woman utters a small laugh as she again checks the machine attached to Inuyasha, then walks to Shippo's other side and presses a few buttons on the one connected to the kitsune. The boys follow her with their eyes, but don't offer any explanation as to why they now looked different.

"You know, it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to figure out what kind of demon you are," she says, glancing up at Inuyasha. "Your ears are quite a giveaway."

The woman smiles again as she steps between the two tables the demons are strapped to, taking one of the half-demon's ears between her thumb and first finger and rubbing the tip.

A low growl instantly fills the air and Inuyasha bares his fangs at her, flattening his ears to his head and jerking it as far away from her as his metal collar will allow.

"Sensitive--are they? Or do you just not like having them touched? Or maybe...," The woman stops, a suggestive smirk contorting her soft features into something that Miroku would have been poud of. "...you wish for a different woman's touch? A young girl's, perhaps? One of the ones you were with this afternooon?"

Inuyasha's growl abruptly stops, his golden eyes widening in disbelief. The woman laughs out loud at his shocked expression.

"It doesn't take a genius, young man. I hope you aren't as dense as he is," she says, turning to Shippo and nodding back at the other boy. "You did see...?"

"Yes...I noticed," Shippo mumbles, not wanting the woman embarrass him as well, but feeling his cheeks warming just the same.

The woman raises a refined brow at the kitsune's quick response, but doesn't comment. Instead, she walks over to the mirror and starts speaking to it, drawing confused glances from the two demons.

"Their vitals seem to be higher than normal for a human male of their age, but both boys do not seem to be distressed, other than what would be understandable in this situation, were they human. They possess adequate speech and language skills and also have a definite grasp of human emotions, unlike some of our previous subjects."

_Subjects?_

Shippo and Inuyasha exchange a look with one another that distinctly conveys worry. The woman was obviously speaking to someone on the other side of the mirror, though they still had no idea what the person or persons wanted with them

Glancing down at the table containing the strange objects, Inuyasha feels his skin rise again, though--this time--it has nothing to do with the air temperature in the room. He hears Shippo take in a quick breath as the fox follows his gaze, before they both turn back to the woman.

"Age is almost impossible to determine, without their admitting it, which is not likely. I doubt even the girl knows, though she may have to be brought in, if the males prove to be uncooperative."

"_Inuyasha..."_

The hanyou drops his gaze to his friend, who shakes his head, a scowl on his young features. Inuyasha blinks, unaware that he had been growling at the mention of Kagome the woman had just made.

Forcing himself to stop, Inuyasha again tries to loosen the straps holding him to the table, his ears listening intently to the woman's words as she continues to speak to the wall. The boy suddenly stops his movements, his eyes widening at her last words.

"Testing to commence at 0700, tomorrow morning."

(_change_)

Kagome raises her cup to her lips, taking a slow swallow of her tea, but choosing not to speak to the demon lord sitting on the other side of the room. She, Sota, and Sesshomaru had been in the youkai's study for at least half-an-hour, but the demon had not spoken a word to the siblings the whole time.

Risotu had brought the two of them here, then had left them alone and retrieved their refreshments before disappearing himself. Kagome and Sota had looked around the small room, but hadn't touched anything, for fear of arousing Sesshomaru's wrath.

Thr girl wasn't worried that the demon would actually hurt her or her brother. Sesshomaru had long since passed the point where he would cause harm just for the fun of it, and Risotu had promised their mother that they would be in no danger.

No, Kagome was worried that Sesshomaru might not tell them where to find her friends.

When she had come through the well for the last time, Inuyasha and his brother still hadn't worked out their differences. The two hadn't tried to kill each other in some time, but they weren't exactly on speaking terms, either.

Kagome didn't want to do anything that might tilt the balance out of her favor.

"What time is it?"

The girl glances over to her brother, who is trying very hard to stay awake in his comfy chair, his lids blinking tiredly as he fails to stifle a yawn. Kagome sets down her cup and glances at her watch, but it is their demon host that answers the boy.

"After midnight."

The siblings turn to look at the taiyoukai, watching him scribbling something across several sheets of paper before he finally lays down his pen, raising dark golden eyes to the pair.

"He did not find me."

Kagome frowns at Sesshomaru's words, tilting her head at the youkai as he slowly sits back in his chair, bringing his fingers together in front of his face.

"Inuyasha was supposed to find you?" she asks, her expression morphing into a surprised gape when the demon nods.

"Yes. He came to me the day before he was to be sealed."

Sesshomaru pauses a moment to stare at the young woman, the actions of his younger sibling more than five centuries before still causing him no small amount of confusion. He knew of her powers as a priestess, and that his brother held some fondness for the girl, but Inuyasha had fallen prey to that same scenario before--and look where that had gotten him.

After more than two decades with Rin, the adorable, little girl had grown into a beautiful woman, and had finally been able to explain the hanyou's decision, at least somewhat adequately. But Sesshomaru nevertheless thought that Inuyasha's choice was still profoundly...well, _stupid_.

Of course, he himself would never do something so foolish.

"I told him that it was absurd to attempt such an action, but the half-breed did not listen. As always."

Kagome finds herself almost scowling at how Sesshomaru had referred to Inuyasha, and forces herself to bite her tongue to keep from yelling at the demon. Instead, she tightens her fingers on the soft material of the arm-chair she was occupying before speaking in a low voice.

"Well, it worked. Inuyasha is in this time, and he's...fine," she says, dropping her voice even lower on her last word.

It was unlikely that Inuyasha had told his brother that the two of them would be fighting when she removed the arrow, so Kagome didn't feel it necessary to indulge the taiyoukai in the unneccesary details of their relationship. Also, she and the hanyou had made up, so--for all intents and purposes--Inuyasha _was_ actually fine now, as she had said.

Except for the whole kidnapping thing.

Which Sesshomaru apparently decides to make use of, because--instead of simply accepting her word--the youkai quirks a brow at the miko.

"You believe that being taken by the _Hisashi no Shorai_ is 'fine,' as you put it?"

Again, Kagome bites her tongue, a little harder this time. She knew that Sesshomaru knew to what she was referring, and he was simply trying to bait her, but for what reason, the girl doesn't know. Apparently, the demon hadn't matured much more than when she had seen him last.

Or so she thinks.

"Who are they?"

Kagome turns to her brother, having all but forgotten that Sota was even sitting beside her. The boy is still fighting his exhaustion, but an unusually serious expression has taken over his young face.

The miko glances back to the demon, watching silently while Sesshomaru simply gazes at her brother, apparently trying to gauge his personality and reason for the boy's presence, since he had only sent for Kagome.

After several seconds the youkai lowers his hands, pulling a drawer open and removing something from inside it, then laying it in his lap. He then looks back up at the brother and sister.

"A research company..."

Kagome feels all the blood starting to drain from her face.

"...that uses demons."

* * *

Umm... I'll explain more about uh...people and things in the next chap. And I don't think I made the research part too difficult to figure out, but you never know. I'm kind of surprised that no one has done this as a plot yet. At least, I haven't seen it. It feels kind of evil...but, you know... humans...


	12. We're Listening

I don't think I have much to say before hand... Everything is after the chap. Uh... ok. :)_

* * *

_

_How...how did I end up on the floor?_

"Kagome? Are you ok?"

The girl glances up at her brother, who is kneeling beside her, his expression worried.

"Humans. They can never control themselves."

Kagome turns her head, her dark eyes widening when she sees Sesshomaru hovering on her other side, her arms grasped firmly in his claws. The demon gently lifts the girl back to her feet and helps her into her chair, the slightest hint of a smirk crossing his lips before he goes back to his own. He resumes his almost bored expression as he places one hand on top of a small box that hadn't been on his desk before Kagome had fainted.

"Can I continue or do I need to call you a specialist?" Sesshomaru asks, apparently immune to the infuriating glare he's now receiving from the miko.

The demon's amber eyes glitter wickedly as Kagome tries to decide if she can purify him with just her hands, finally deciding that he can't help his brother if she's strangled him to death.

"I'll...be fine...," she mumbles, giving Sota a nod when he frowns at her.

"Very well," Sesshomaru says, before either of the siblings can say anything else. "I will tell you what I know of the _Hisashi no Shorai_, then you will tell me what my brother has been doing since he and the kitsune woke from their sealings. You will leave nothing out."

Kagome finds herself glaring again at the demon's last sentence. Sesshomaru's tone and expression hadn't changed from his almost bored attitude, but the intensity of his gaze brooked no argument. The demon would hear everything that had happened between her and Inuyasha, whether she wanted him to know or not.

Hating herself for giving into his demand, Kagome drops her eyes briefly to her hands, which are shaking in her lap. She hears Sesshomaru snort softly and raises her eyes back to his briefly, before reaching for her cup so that she can stop her trembling.

After she's taken a few sips--during which Sesshomaru is kind enough to wait--and sets the tea back on the small table between her and Sota, she sees the inu-demon opens his mouth, but it's her brother's voice that fills the silence in the room.

"Where are they all?"

Kagome frowns as she turns to her brother.

_What is he talking about?_

"Where are who?" she asks, confused at the sudden sadness that's showing on her sibling's face.

"Youkai. Your brother is asking where the demons are in this time."

The girl looks back at the taiyoukai, just catching the hint of sorrow behind his gaze. Sesshomaru quickly dismisses the emotion, however, and answer Sota's question.

"I do not know. I have contact with a few that are living among humans. Without their knowledge, of course. I also know of others that live beyond human boundaries, in the 'wilderness,' as you would call it."

The demon stops, raising one hand and lifting his pen to scribble something across a notepad lying on his desk. Sesshomaru then idly taps the utensil against the paper, muffled _thumps _echoing across the space to the siblings.

"You know of the Kanagawa Treaty?" he finally asks, writing something else on the paper before lowering his pen.

Kagome blinks, a vague recollection of her history classes coming back to her.

"Y...es. That was when we...Nihon...ended our Sakoku, or Hai jin. Our..._seclusion_, as the westerners called it. We signed treaties with other nations and began to trade more openly with them."

The young miko frowns as Sesshomaru nods, wondering why the demon was asking her about the 1850's.

"Correct. It took several more years before both people and merchandise could move freely, but that was the open door that other territories needed. Our cities and harbors saw more foreign ships and visitors, and we sent delegates to the..._United States _and..._Europe_ to learn of their culture. Nihon's forced exposure was unappreciated then, but is widely considered to be good fortune among our people now."

Kagome glances at her bother, trying to see if he was following all that Sesshomaru was saying. The young teenager seemed to be listening the demon's words with rapt attention, much more than his sister could muster at this late hour. Besides which, the miko had never been much for history.

Feeling her brain starting to slip away, Kagome stifles a yawn and jumps in with a question, wanting the youkai to make his point before she either lost her patience or fell asleep.

"What does that have to do with demons, though? Did they leave for other countries?" she asks, a slight feeling of dread washing over her when Sesshomaru turns his darkened gaze on hers.

"Some left, yes,_ miko_," the youkai says, his tone betraying his annoyance with her. "But most were never given the chance."

Kagome feels her face draining of its color again and grips the arms of her chair tightly. She didn't need Sesshomaru to say it out loud to see where the conversation was going. The demon-lord regards her with almost a saddened light behind his eyes before continuing.

"As you know, humans and demons had developed something of an understanding during the time you were with..._Inuyasha_," Sesshomaru says, removing his free hand from the box it had been laying on and pushing it toward the girl. "Not exactly peace, but the more civilized of our two races did not unnecessarily engage in battle. That did not change for more than 300 years after you left, until the westerners discovered our existence."

"What did they do?"

Kagome glances at her brother, seeing the boy huddled deeply in his over-stuffed chair, but with his dark eyes still trained on the demon-lord before them. Sesshomaru holds the boy's gaze for several seconds before he responds, and the miko finds herself almost proud of the fact that Sota didn't flinch the entire time.

_Inuyasha is rubbing off on him..._ she thinks, biting back a sad smile as she turns her attention back to Sesshomaru.

"I had been to the continent...before they came. Human laws hold no power over a demon," Sesshomaru says, when Kagome and Sota give him confused looks. "I went wherever I pleased. But I should have seen what would happen when others' ideas began to influence our own."

The demon lets out a slow sigh, and Kagome finds herself almost staring. She'd never heard the taiyoukai sounding so...well..._tired_ before. Sesshomaru had always been strong, and never failed to let others know that, even if he _did_ happen to be weak at certain times.

"I think I chose not to see it. Or, more likely, I ignored it. I thought that I could handle anything a human might try to do."

Sesshomaru stops his quiet speech, turning to the siblings for confirmation. Kagome immediately nods, almost frightened by the resigned look in the demon's golden eyes. After a few moments the youkai leans forward, crossing his arms over one another on his cherry-red desk and staring blankly at the small, deep blue box on the corner.

"Most of the humans of this land were caught in their own disputes, what with new ideals taking root, and disruptions to their previous ways of life. Commoners only rarely acknowledged that youkai still existed anyway, and did not notice for several years that there were less of us with demonic powers as there once used to be."

The taiyoukai pauses a moment, raising his gaze to the brother and sister to see their reactions to his whispered sentence.

"A few years after he took the throne, the Meiji Emperor very quietly ordered the extinction of all youkai on his land."

Kagome can't hold back her gasp, and places one hand over her mouth to at least stifle the sound. The miko shakes her head back and forth a few times, trying to deny what Sesshomaru had just told them.

"But...how...? _Why_...?"

"Why would he do that?" Sota asks, wearing an expression similar to his sister's.

"Because youkai were a threat to his position as Emperor," Sesshomaru says, a slight sneer on his lips. "The religious beliefs honored at that time held a great reverence for _kami_--spirits, or 'gods.' Especially those in close contact with nature: animals, trees, mountains, the moon, and so on. Because we demons associate more closely with such things than you humans, it would not have been a great step for you to begin to see us as _kami_, and start to worship us."

"So...the Meiji Emperor decided to get rid of you. His competition," Sota says, exchanging a disbelieving glance with his sister.

Sesshomaru only nods again, leaning back in his chair once more and turning it so that he can stare at a painting hanging on one wall. Kagome and Sota don't speak--or hardly even breathe--wondering how they would have reacted if someone had ordered the extinction of their kind.

After several long minutes, the taiyoukai finally returns his gaze to the siblings, a sort of calmness having come over his features now.

"The _Hisashi no Shorai_. They were our silent executioners," he says, ignoring another gasp from the miko. "They were essentially demon slayers, in the beginning. Like your friend, and her brother," he says, and Kagome knows Sesshomaru is referring to Sango and Kohaku. "But they..._evolved_ over time."

"Evolved?" Kagome asks, her voice small and afraid. She thought she knew where the demon was heading, and knew that she didn't want to hear it.

"Yes," the youkai says, again raising his eyes to the two before him. "Evolved. Some...a few...of us, they found too strong to kill. They couldn't capture or poison us. They couldn't best us with their weaponry, and most became unwilling to risk their lives when they knew they had no chance to begin with. That was when they decided to find our weaknesses."

Kagome feels like she's on the verge of tears. She begins shaking her head--trying to deny what Sesshomaru was about to say--while Sota finds her hand and grips it tightly.

"The members of the _Hisashi no Shorai_ began using lesser demons as subjects. They were few left at this time, but they were enough to experiment with. To test methods of extermination."

**OoooOoooO**

"Oww..."

"Didn't I tell you not to do that?"

Shippo nods, sending a sneer to the hanyou in the next cell anyway. "I thought maybe you'd lost some of your strength or something," the kitsune says, ignoring the fanged glare aimed at him and rubbing his sore hand. "You _were_ pinned to a tree for a few years."

"Five-hundred and fifty or so, last time I counted," Inuyasha replies, grabbing the metal bars that were hiding beneath something Kagome had told him was 'concrete.' He sends a forced grin at the fox when Shippo rolls his eyes. "I tried to punch through the walls when I woke up, but these metal...pipe...things aren't going to give. They're made of something that we can't break."

Shippo bares his fangs for a moment before dropping onto the small cot located against one wall, eyeing the t-shirt and soft-looking pants on the end with concern. The kitsune then glances back to the hanyou through a barred gap in the wall between their rooms, tilting his head at the fact that the other boy was dressed.

"You're wearing their stuff?" he asks, sliding to the end of his bed and picking up the shirt.

"It's cold in here," Inuyasha says, as if this makes all the sense in the world. "And I'd rather not walk around wearing only my boxers," he mumbles after a minute.

Shippo raises one brow at the half-demon, then shrugs and proceeds to dress. "Any luck with that collar?"

Inuyasha growls lightly to himself, wrapping his claws around the metal ring still circling his neck, above his beads. "No. I think it's made of the same stuff as the bars. We're not going to get them off on our own."

Shippo grins wryly to himself as Inuyasha proceeds to spew a short string of profanities.

"Do you feel any better?" he asks, when the half-demon sighs and moves slowly back to his cot.

Inuyasha shrugs, then winces as he sits down. "A little. It wasn't as bad as Bankotsu's lightening, but it was worse than Hiten's. How about you?"

Shippo nods, then frowns to himself, raising his arms over his head to stretch his back. "I'm okay. I didn't get it as bad as you did, though. You always could handle pain better than the rest of us, Inuyasha."

The kistune is silent for a few minutes as he watches the hanyou give him a small smirk, then draw his legs into a crossed position, doing the same with his arms a few seconds later.

Inuyasha lets his eyes roam slowly around the essentially blank room, stopping briefly on each hole he had made trying to break through the concrete. The half-demon then eyes one corner that has been blocked off except for one side, a faint glint of silver metal reflecting from that direction, from the bright light over his head.

Sneering slightly, the boy turns to look at the metal door to his left, scrutinizing each of the bolts going around the edge and the claw marks on each side of a small 'window.' He narrows his eyes at a strip of some other type of metal that's running across the top of the door, before Shippo's voice causes him to turn back to the other demon.

"Do you think they can really make it worse than that? That woman--Hiikime--said that the collars could be..._charged_...more than what we got before," the kitsune says quietly.

Inuyasha is quiet for a few seconds, simply holding Shippo's gaze for before he nods.

"I don't doubt it. We can't break through the bars; we can't remove these metal bands. She told us that we would receive a 'surprise' if we tried to escape, and she wasn't lying," the hanyou says, growling. "If only I had Tetsusaiga..."

"Then we'd be out of here in a minute. But it's still at the Shrine."

The fox-youkai crosses his arms in an imitation of the other demon, tapping his claws as he thinks.

"I could try some of my magic. You haven't seen what I learned while you were asleep," the kitsune says, raising his brows several times at Inuyasha.

The hanyou rolls his eyes at the kistune as Shippo gets to his feet, approaching the bars that separated their cells. As the fox closes his eyes and his expression relaxes, however, Inuyasha suddenly speaks.

"Don't...," he says, frowning at the other boy as Shippo gives him a confused look. "I just... have a bad feeling," Inuyasha says, glancing again at the door to his room as every hair on his head seems to rise.

**OoooOoooO**

"They haven't tried anything else?"

"No. The silver-haired one--_Inuyasha_, I think the other said his name was--used his strength on the walls, and the red-haired one tried that once, but neither of them have done anything but talk, otherwise."

"This..._Tetsusaiga..._ "

"We don't know what it is. He didn't have anything out of the ordinary except for that necklace, and we can't remove that."

"Find a way. And find out what this _Tetsusaiga_ is. Return to the residence if you have to."

"Yes, sir. What about the smaller one's magic?"

"We will discover that in a few hours."

"Yes, sir."

"One more thing..."

"Yes?"

"Find out what Inuyasha meant."

"Sir?"

"Do we have to explain it? He was pinned to a tree for 550 years, so he says. We need to know what that means."

"Sir?"

"Open your ears. We may have inadvertently discovered another option."

* * *

Okay. I need to put stuff down here. I'm not claiming to know a lot (Or anything, really...) about Sakoku or the Kanagawa Treaty. I wanted to explain why demons suddenly disappeared from Japan (_Nihon_, or _Nippon_, as the Japanese (_Nihonjin_ or _Nipponjin_) call their homeland; 'Japan' is a mistranslation, or a mispelling that's stuck around from early trade routes. I think.) and this piece of Japan's history happened to fit perfectly into the time period I wanted. And the Meiji governement did exist, but I don't know if they would have ordered the extinction of demons. They didn't seem to be very nice though--from what I've read--so I guess it could've happened. :)


	13. As Time Passes

I feel very sad; this chap was hard to write. Is this an angst fic? I need to go check that... _Note_: Each of the scenes in this chap takes place at a later time than the previous. I thought I should mention that, so I don't confuse anybody. Uh...I'll talk some more at the end. :l

* * *

Kagome bites back a combination of a sigh and a sob, stopping a moment to lean against her broom and eyeing the small, dark blue box sitting on her windowsill.

_When is Sesshomaru going to call for me? It's been over a week since Inuyasha and Shippo were taken..._

The miko bites her bottom lip, refusing to let herself cry. It wouldn't do anyone any good, and Youpai was due back any second, besides. Right now, the girl needed to concentrate on helping clean up the Shrine.

"Hey, sis?"

Kagome turns toward her door, seeing her brother step over a pile of debris as he comes into her room.

"Yeah, Sota?" the girl wearily replies, sweeping up the glass from several of her broken pictures.

The younger Higurashi looks around at the mess for a moment before glancing up, his tired and worried expression echoing his sister's.

"Mom said that Sesshomaru doesn't want us to stay here until after he...takes care of..._ things_," the boy says, dropping his voice to a whisper on his last word. "Which is good, because the police don't want us here, either. We're going to stay with the Sensiaminu's until..."

Kagome nods at her brother when he doesn't finish his sentence, choosing instead to shrug and wave one hand in the air, while looking at everything except his big sister. The young miko finds herself uttering a soft, unamused laugh, wondering where the strange urge came from. She just shakes her head when Sota turns and blinks confusedly at her, mumbling something about not feeling well, to which the boy gives a knowing grimace.

"What did she tell Youpai's mom then? And what about her and Gramps?" she asks. "It's not safe for them to stay, either."

"She told mom the truth. Well, at least about the break-in," Youpai says, moving into the miko's room behind Sota and handing each of the siblings a bottle of water before taking a drink of her own. "Your Gramps is going to stay with a priest friend of his. And your mom... Your mom is..."

"I'm going out of town," Kajina says, coming into the room behind the kids and finishing Youpai's sentence when the girl hesitates. The older woman ignores the gaping stares she's getting from her children and picks up a trash bag, starting on what remained of Kagome's destroyed closet doors.

"Wh...what?" the miko finally asks, somehow keeping her voice from sounding hysterical. "Where're you going? _Why?_ Now? Wh...?"

"It's just for a few days, dear. Mr. Hakujin seems to think that I can be of some help to him," Kajina says, using the surname the inuyoukai had taken on sometime in the last 500 years. "I don't know what makes him think that, but this _Sesshomaru_ of yours seems like he knows what he's doing. If he told me that jumping in the Bay would help get our boys back, then I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Kagome, Sota, and Youpai continue to stare at the sibling's mother's determined face until Risuto comes into the doorway, nodding a confirmation at their shocked expressions. The miko eventually sets her broom in one corner and lowers herself slowly to her windowsill, moving the small box into her lap.

"Can you tell us why?" she whispers, looking up at the two adults, instantly getting her answer when the short man frowns.

"No, Kagome. No one can know what Sesshomaru is doing. Even I am only privilege to a small portion of what he is planning," Risuto says, unconsciously frowning, then sighing a moment later. "Your mother will be in good hands, and should return no later than Wednesday evening."

The girl sighs, giving a resigned nod, putting her arm around him when her brother sits beside her. In a different situation she would have been annoyed with her sibling, but the boy had been having the same confusing emotions as she had these past several days, and Kagome knew that Sota was just trying to find some comfort from his sister.

"We need to be packed by 5:30, kids. Tsuyosa is going to drop you three off at the Sensiaminu's, then take your Grandfather to the Gifuto Shrine," Kajina says. The woman ties off the top of her trashbag, then picks up another and begins sorting through Kagome's pile of trash, picking out the larger pieces of glass, wood, and plastic. "I've told your mother that I'm staying with dad and that we'll be here at the Shrine during the day--to clean up--and that I don't want you kids coming back here until the..._perpetrators_...are caught. It would be in your mother's best interest if you kids don't give her any reason to think otherwise, Youpai," the woman says, raising her eyes to give each of them a stern look. "Your Grandfather is supposed to call each evening and make sure you two are doing okay, so you can tell Koka that you've spoken to me, and it will still be a few more days before you can come back."

The three teens exchange a slightly worried glance, taking a few seconds to process what Kajina has just told them.

"So...Youpai's mom can't find out that a secret, non-existent society broke into the Shrine and ransacked the house, most likely looking for magical objects that belong to the two demons that they previously kidnapped?" Sota says, shaking his head in mock exasperation. "Because...who wouldn't believe that?"

Kajina gives her son a small, forced smile before she leaves the room, handing one of her trash bags to the tiny man in her way, covering the real smile on her face when he struggles to carry the bag that was as big as he was. Sota and Youpai seem to relax a little at the scene, offering grins to each other and the other girl in the room before they notice her troubled stare.

"We'd better get started again, sis," the boy says quietly, after several awkward minutes. "We still have the rest of the house to go before we can pack."

Kagome draws her gaze back to her brother, sighing an assent before she stands and reaches for her broom, her fingers still wrapped tightly around the dark blue box.

**OoooOoooO**

"Kagome?"

The miko is quiet for a minute or so before she responds, speaking softly into the darkness of her friend's room.

"Yeah?"

"He...he'll find them. This Sesshomaru guy," Youpai says after a moment. "From what you told me, he just needs some time to get everything together."

Kagome doesn't immediately reply, her mind wandering back to her last conversation with the dog demon, almost two weeks before.

"_There are some...connections...I must still engage before we can begin the assault. I have been planning it for some time... though this was not the way I wished to find their base... When everything is ready, I will call for your assistance, miko."_

"_How long will it take to...gather your forces? If these...Hisashi no Shorai_ _people are as bad as you say, Inuyasha and Shippo..."_

"_I cannot rush my plan now, mi...Kagome. I will not pretend that saving my brother and the kitsune are my only objective, but they __**are**__ one of them. Our sole advantage is that the exterminators do not expect an assault. They believe that we cannot find them, and that their defenses will prevent us from gaining access to their stronghold."_

"_But...while we're sitting out here...they're being... ...they're...__**experiments**__..."_

"_We have only one chance at this, girl. The item you carry will work exactly one time, and for only a few hours. Every possibility must be covered; every contingency planned. If anything is overlooked, my kind will never be rid of this threat to our existence, and the hanyou and the fox will likely never be seen again. If they survive their treatments now, that is..."_

"Right...," the girl whispers, rolling away from her friend and biting her tongue at the anger and aching pain that settles in her chest. "...but _time_ is not what we have a lot of."

Youpai doesn't respond to this statement, and Kagome hears her move on her bed a moment later, while the soft sound of snoring comes from the bedroom next door. The miko stifles a sigh, feeling the tears she'd been holding in all day start to well beneath her lashes.

Sesshomaru had explained to her and Sota that the _Hisashi no Shorai_ had begun as a group of exterminators, progressing to 'researchers' when their targets proved too strong to kill by conventional means. After they began using lesser demons as subjects, the members of the group learned that demons were born with an innate power which gave them abilities that humans didn't have, and also made them more difficult to kill.

All youkai--no matter the type or size--can only be killed when one of their vital 'points' is _irreparably_ damaged. The points being the head, chest, and lower abdomen.

Not so different from what would kill a human, the main problem was the fact that youkai are much more resilient to injuries. Part of this was because, once wounded, a demon would immediately--and quickly--begin healing itself.

The other part was that 'regular' means of annihilation do not work on a demon. Cutting injuries and even explosions--to an extent--will not kill them. Only the most dangerous of poisons, usually those that are also fatal to humans, will be effective.

And removing extremities won't work, either. They can usually be reattached, or--given time--they'll regrow on their own. Even the head can be returned to the body, if it's within a few hours of the decapitation. As a result of this, youkai will not bleed to death. Their bodies instantly and effectively close off the wound site, saving the precious, life-sustaining liquid.

It took the _Hisashi no Shorai_ more than a decade to discover this simple fact, according to Sesshomaru. They eventually progressed from lesser demons to those who had the same or higher level of human understanding, which they found immensely more difficult to kill.

Youkai at this level were smarter, or often simply stronger or faster than what the group had faced before. If they could catch up to one, and weren't immediately killed by the demon, they often became playthings for him/her. Weapons would only rarely work; the same was true of poisons or charms; and even simple sutras became ineffective against a powerful demon.

The group had rethink their plans, and start over, beginning with finding ways to simply bind their elusive and difficult targets. Once they were capable of holding a youkai without it escaping, they would work on finding more competent ways of disabling and eradicating them.

_That's why they were never able to kill them all..._

Kagome blinks, feeling her tears fall freely down her cheeks and onto her pillow. She swallows the lump in her throat, then thanks Kami--again--for the complete oversight that the research group had made. And was still making.

_They forgot about people with spiritual powers... Like me, and Miroku, and Kikyo... _

When Kagome had asked why the group had never thought to use a monk or priestess, the demon had actually looked like he was going to laugh. Almost, but not quite. The farthest the taiyoukai got was a smirk very reminiscent of what his brother would often wear.

The demon had explained that spiritual beings were becoming scarce by the time the group was formed, and those that were still practicing had very little power, and were usually not taken seriously. The _Hisashi no Shorai_ did not--and likely never would--rely on those who, in their eyes, at least, too closely resembled their 'enemies.'

Kagome closes her eyes again, wishing for the millionth-and-one time that she hadn't told Inuyasha's brother what had happened since she'd woken the hanyou and Shippo from their seals.

She had been saved some embarrassment when Sesshomaru told her that he just needed to know the times they'd left the Shrine, and where they'd gone, but this was after Kagome had already mentioned the fight the two of the had gone through.

The miko had held her tongue at the look of amusement in the youkai's eyes, and proceeded to explain about the mall, and the strange woman in the clothing store. Sesshomaru had frowned at this, and proceeded to write something down while Kagome detailed the events of that night, finishing with the arrival of his assistant, and her near-hysteria.

Sesshomaru had simply nodded, not offering any explanations. He had then told the siblings that Tsuyosa would remove Inuyasha and Shippo's belongings from the Shrine, until the boys were found again.

When Kagome protested, the taiyoukai had calmly explained that the group would probably come back, looking for things to test or use against the two demons, which was why they did not need to get their hands on Tetsusaiga, at the least.

Feeling as if something else was being forcibly taken away from her, the miko had resentfully agreed, before learning that the bald man's twin--Tsuyoku--would be staying with them at the Shrine.

Again ignoring the kid's objections, the demon had dismissed the siblings, after handing Kagome the strange box he'd removed from his desk, warning her not to drop, let anyone else touch, or lose the item inside it. She could look at it if she wanted, could even touch it herself, but was forbidden to allow it out of her sight for even a single minute.

Kagome moves her hand, withdrawing the small box from underneath her pillow. She frowns slightly at the cube, holding her hand above it and still feeling the power radiating against her skin.

She'd done as Sesshomaru had asked, and kept the strange item by her side at all times, protecting it as if her life--or, actually, Inuyasha and Shippo's lives--depended on it. The only other person who even knew about the object inside was Sota, and that was because he was with her when she received the box. The siblings had opened the lid only once, and neither of spoken of it since.

_Will it really work? Will it really be able to find them?_

The miko sighs, sliding the box underneath her pillow as her thoughts stray back to her two demons, tears again filling her tired eyes.

_I'm coming for you...Inuyasha...Shippo... ...just..._

_...hang on..._

**OoooOoooO**

"She'll come, you know."

Inuyasha blinks, feeling his eyes water more than they should at the movement. He mumbles something soft and unintelligible, not drawing his gaze away from the blank ceiling he'd been staring at for the past several hours. Shippo waits for the other boy to answer, an abnormal dread starting to come over him before the hanyou finally speaks.

"I...know...," he says, his voice barely a whisper.

The kitsune releases the breath he'd been holding, at the same time feeling the hairs on his neck rise at the sorrow and pain in the other demon's words. He lifts himself onto one elbow, making a face at the burns, cuts, and bruises on the parts of his body not covered by clothing. Shippo rubs one ear, idly wondering if he'll ever be able to hear normally on that side again.

"But...?" he whispers, still nervous about the lack of conviction in his friend's tone.

Inuyasha remains silent, hearing the fox shift on his cot, presumably so that Shippo can face him through the bars between their cells. He turns his head, biting his tongue at the fact that he can't see anything more detailed than a greyish sort of blob with a red tint at one end.

"It still hasn't come back, has it?" the other boy asks, ignoring his earlier question when he sees Inuyasha's haunted expression. Shippo feels his chest constrict painfully when the hanyou shakes his head, then goes back to staring at the ceiling.

"It will," the kitsune whispers, hoping that he sounds more convinced than he actually felt. The boy was starting to think that whatever substance their captors had soaked into Inuyasha's eyes had permanently damaged them.

The half-demon doesn't respond, and the pair sits in uncomfortable silence, each thinking about the 'testing' they'd already gone through, and wondering how much more torture they were going to have to endure before they were rescued, escaped, or...something else.

Inuyasha and Shippo had been in custody of the _Hisashi no Shorai _for 18 days, though neither of the boys knew exactly how long it had really been, as there were no windows in their rooms, and there were always lights on inside the building in which the two were being held.

The demons had gone through two 'rounds' of testing each day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, they presumed. In between these periods they were fed and given a change of clothes, which they could use or not, whichever they decided.

Their food was always the same: two rice balls, an orange, a bowl of egg drop soup, and a small custard in a flaky crust, that didn't really taste like much of anything.

During their meal and when the two youkai were given a change of clothes, they also received a liter of water each, which they were almost positive was not pure. As the pair used so much energy during their 'sessions' and afterwards, however, they didn't really have much of a choice as to whether or not they should drink it.

After Inuyasha and Shippo's second round of the day, they were allowed several hours of recovery time, which--more often than not--involved sleeping until they were woken to begin the 'day' all over again.

"I don't know if she'll make it in time."

Shippo glances up, frowning at the half-demon's flat tone. He opens his mouth to respond, but decides that--despite his faith otherwise--Inuyasha was probably right.

As their days in captivity had worn on, the boys could tell that the tests were getting progressively worse. They had started with various skin and sensory 'trials', seeing if the two demons would be 'usefully incapacitated'--as the white-coat-wearing people called it. They were slightly painful, but not nearly enough to stop a youkai.

The next several days had been spent trying different kinds of liquids, gases, and powder-like substances, which were either put onto the skin, or--as with Inuyasha--allowed to soak into his eyes and nose.

Whatever that substance was had been sufficiently painful to the half-demon. Shippo could tell during the test and afterward that the other boy was suffering. The skin around his eyes and cheekbones was swollen and red, as were his eyes around the pupils. The hanyou couldn't stop coughing for several hours, and at one point, the kitsune was sure he'd seen blood.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately--Shippo couldn't decide which--whatever the treatment was only made Inuyasha angry. In between coughing fits, the boy spewed angry curses and made several more holes in the concrete of his cell, finally exhausting himself and collapsing onto the floor.

The fox-demon didn't know if it had been a side-effect of the treatment, or if the hanyou was finally reaching his breaking point. He tried to talk to the other boy, but Inuyasha refused to listen, and simply crawled onto his cot, lapsing into silence until time for their next 'round.'

This time, they were almost literally tortured. The two demons were cut, beaten, and burned repeatedly, and for several hours. When Shippo finally cried out in pain--when a high-pitched tone from a speaker ruptured his eardrum--the boys were freed for the day, and led back to their cells.

"She _will_ find us, Inuyasha," Shippo says, feeling that he's going to have to be the one to keep their hope alive, as the hanyou almost seemed to have given up already. "I don't know how, as we don't know where we are, or of any other youkai in this..._here_, but..."

The kitsune stops when Inuyasha sits up suddenly on his bed, his golden eyes widening as his jaw drops. Almost as quickly as it had come, though, the boy's expression morphs into a scowl.

"If only she had _someone_ to _help_ her...," he mumbles, frowning a little at the kitsune before he suddenly--surprisingly--winks, then turns a glare on the door to his cell.

* * *

Ok? The next chap will be worse. :( But I can't keep writing torturous stuff like this, so that will probably be the last one. And I don't think this is an angst fic. I really need to check that, b/c if it's not, I need to change it. Does everybody like/want some angst? There'll be some fluff, too, but you know, life isn't always that simple. ;P


	14. Assault

I hate it when I do stupid stuff. I was halfway through editing and forgot that I wasn't in Word, and hit an evil button. Urgh...So now I have to remember what I wrote before, dang it! Uh, let's see. Oh, yes, I wanted to apologize for taking so long with this chap, but life and school were getting the way, and my muse decided to take an unauthorized vacation. As a result, this chap is about twice as long as normal, b/c I wanted to leave it a cliffhangar, b/c I am an evil writer, as evidenced by the cliffhangar. As a result of _that_, I am going to try to update soon, b/c I think you guys are going to come after me, and I don't have enough reader-repellant to keep you all from glomping me. :)

_

* * *

_

_Inuyasha..._

Shippo somehow manages to swallow the dry lump in his throat, coughing a little in the process and tasting the tangy scent of blood in his mouth. Strangely--and possibly morbidly--thankful for the liquid so that he can wet his parched tongue, the fox swallows again, then raises his dull emerald eyes back to his friend.

Inuyasha is directly across the room, strapped down by the same metal that circles his neck. He's stiff as a board, his body rigid and arched slightly upward, his jaw locked and his eyes squeezed shut so tightly that it must be physically painful. The hanyou's claws are digging into the sides of the table, and sweat and blood are sliding off his body.

It's obvious that the boy is doing everything he can to prevent himself from screaming in agony.

Shippo shifts his gaze briefly to the man beside the hanyou, who is wearing a long, white coat and a mask of some sort over his mouth, a hint of a sneer crossing the fox's face before a twitch from Inuyasha draws his eyes back to his friend. He slides his gaze slowly over the square machine that is connected to the boy, then shudders as his eyes land on the bag hanging from a metal rod standing on Inuyasha's other side, it's contents slowly emptying into the half-demon.

The kitsune feels his stomach turn over as he moves his gaze from the bag down a piece of tubing connecting it to Inuyasha. The deeply-red liquid doesn't just vanish when it enters the other boy's arm. Shippo can see every single one of the his veins and arteries, standing out starkly beneath the hanyou's tanned skin, courtesy of the deadly liquid. His arms, legs, forehead, chest...

"Incredible..."

Shippo turns his head slightly to look at the coated man next to him, seeing a combination of awe, fear, and disbelief on his face while he watches the other pair, his hand and the pen between his fingers shaking slightly as it hovers over a clipboard.

"That solution is concentrated enough to bring down a fully grown elephant..."

The kitsune frowns, having learned what an _elephant_ was, but not entirely sure he liked the words: _bring down._ It sounded too much like they were trying to kill his friend.

_Oh, Kami... _the fox thinks, sudden horror stabbing painfully through his mind and heart. _Are they...? They can't be... No! Not yet!_

"Inuyasha!"

Shippo ignores the man beside him when he jumps, apparently not realizing that the red-haired demon strapped to the table next to him still had enough energy to yell across the room and begin fighting his restraints. He stares blatantly at the youkai for several seconds, before realizing that Shippo was going to invalidate his results if he kept up his frantic movements.

Cursing under his breath, the man reaches for a similar bag hanging from another metal rod, somehow managing to connect it and it's deep-blue contents to the needle and small amount of tubing protruding from the kitsune's lower arm.

"Inuyasha! Hang on! Hang..."

Shippo stops his struggling after several minutes, turning disbelievingly eyes, first, to the scowling technician, then the bag hanging above his head, then the liquid making it's way into his arm. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, struggling to understand the strange, calming, almost detached feeling that's making it's way up his arm and across his chest.

The fox forces himself to swallow again, biting back the bile rising in his throat as he hears his heart slow to barely half of it's normal beat, and his breathing shallow dangerously. Shippo forces his eyes up to the man in the white coat,as his hearing and vision becoming muffled and blurry, respectively. The kitsune makes a last effort to use his magic--despite Inuyasha's warnings not to--but finds that he barely has enough energy to keep his focus on what the man was saying.

"Majo! This one will be out for several hours. Help me take him back to the cell while Nieru finishes with the silver-haired one."

The technician that had been called nods to his collegues behind the orange-glass wall, then leaves the observation room and enters the testing room that was currently housing the two demons. He gives a nod to the technician beside Inuyasha, a somewhat malignant smile crossing his face before he begins helping the other remove the straps on Shippo--one Haka, by name. The two men hold the barely conscious kitsune between them as they exit the room, momentary chills running down their spines as the half-demon finally breaks, and a horrifying, ear-splitting scream echoes in the corridor before the sound-proof door closes behind them.

Shippo--now unable to do anything but listen to the dying cries of his friend--fights the tears welling behind his green eyes, somehow realizing in his disconnected mind that if he begins crying now, he'll most likely suffocate to death before the blue solution is removed from his system.

The fox-demon is so far gone by the time he's dropped unceremoniously on the floor of his 'room,' that he only just registers what sounds like an explosion before he slips into unsciousness.

**OoooOoooO**

_Three hours earlier..._

Kagome virtually growls to herself, slamming open the back door and stomping into darkened yard, heading for the Sacred Tree. She glances briefly back to the house, where she, her mother, brother, and Gramps had been finishing up in the kitchen, the last of the debris from the break-in finally being swept away. She exchanges a heated, frustrated glance with her mother through the brightly-lit window, seeing the older woman sigh before turning away.

_Why is her friend so important, anyway?! She's had so little contact with mom over the years, that Sota and I have never even met her, and Gramps can only describe her as being, 'tall, with light hair.' Why is she so important?_

Kagome makes her way quickly to the Goshinboku, pacing back-and-forth in front of it a few times before she stops, leaning her forhead against the rough bark to try and draw some strength and serenity from the ages-old tree. It doesn't work.

_It's been almost a month! Tomorrow is the night of the... Night of the..._

The girl clenches her fists, not daring to think about what will happen if the _Hisashi no Shorai _find out about the half-demon's human night.

_If he's even lasted this long..._ she thinks, immediately making herself focus on her anger with Inuyasha's brother, instead of what might be happening to her hanyou and Shippo.

_I thought that when Sesshomaru said we could return to the Shrine, that he'd call for me within a few days! It's been almost a week, and we haven't heard anything from him at all! Even Tsuyosa and Tsuyoku, who have been staying with us, haven't been told anything. Mom said that her friend in Osaka knew they were coming, and that's why she returned with her, while Sesshomaru came back almost as soon as they got there. What has he been doing for 10 days?! By the time we get to Inuyasha and Shippo, they'll...they'll..._

The young miko cuts herself off again, refusing to let her mind finish that thought. She turns away from the Goshinboku, pacing to the top of the Shrine steps, hesitating a moment before heading down them, her right hand automatically reaching to pat the over-sized pocket of her cargo pants, momentarily gaining some reassurance from the solid object beneath her fingers.

_I need some time to myself... Just a few minutes...before I snap. Mom...and Sota...and even Gramps and Youpai... They all have complete faith in Sesshomaru... They don't understand the...the...__**waiting**__. The...the...__**not knowing**__. The very real danger that Shippo and Inuyasha might not..._

The miko's thoughts are suddenly cut off as her name is shouted from somewhere near her house, and the loud squealing of rubber coming from up the street. Kagome steps onto the sidewalk below the Shrine, finding herself staring as an unmarked van identical to the one that had taken her two demons barrels down their road, skidding to a stop in front of the semi-alarmed teen.

The girl gasps as several men exit the vehicle, raising their guns at her as she hears her name shouted again, this time much closer.

"She saved us some rounds. Grab her!"

The young priestess takes a few steps back, not even turning to run before three sets of hands grab her arms and legs, lifting her off her feet as another set slides some kind of cloth bag over her head.

"Hey...!"

Kagome tries to yell for help, but her cries are muffled by the cloth. Something that feels like rope is wrapped around her wrists and ankles, and the girl feels the solidity of the floor of the van before the sliding door is closed, and the vehicle's engine revs in preparation to flee.

Before it can move a dozen feet, however, the van is suddenly stopped, the sound of screeching tires testament to the fact that the vehicle was still trying to move, though only shuddering can be felt along it's frame, and no actual movement in the forward direction.

"What the...?"

Kagome struggles against her bindings for a moment before the screeching sound of metal being twisted about itself reaches her ears, and the vague realization that a human could not do what it sounded like was being done to the van.

_Sesshomaru...?_

Wondering if the taiyoukai had finally made his move--_after_ she had been kidnapped, the girl ironically thinks--Kagome forces herself to stay quiet as muffled curses and yells sounds from her captors. She also hears what can only be like amused laughter floating through the confusing air, before what is obviously gunfire echoes through the small space.

"Get her! Bringing in another demon would...!"

Kagome doesn't hear the rest of the man's sentence as something small, hard, and metal bounces off the floor of the van close to her head, and a burning, acrid, nauseating smell fills her nostrils. The miko coughs several times, trying to call for help but unable to force any words past her flaming throat, wondering if her eyes, nose, and tongue were melting off her face.

Almost as soon as she finishes this thought, though, a pair of hands hauls her out of the van, yanking the cloth off her head and quickly slicing through her bindings.

"Give her this. I need to catch those two before they can report."

Kagome rolls onto her hands and knees, coughing hard and wiping at her running eyes as something soft, cool, and damp is placed over her face. She immediately tries to push it away, but the sound of her mother's voice helps her to calm down somewhat.

"It's to help with the gas, dear. Kaji didn't mean for you to get hit with it, but she needed to stop those men."

Kagome struggles to open her eyes, the sounds of muffled fighting and punches being landed echoing from somewhere in the street.

"Wh...what?" she manages to gasp, sitting up onto her knees and taking the cloth in her own hands. "Isn't Kaji your...?"

The priestess takes a strangled breath that has nothing to do with the gas she'd just inhaled, but which sends her into another coughing fit. She holds the soft linen tightly over her mouth and nose as her mind tries to grasp the implications, her brain quickly coming to the obvious conclusion. She takes several deep breaths of the slightly sweet-smelling substance that was counteracting the effects of the noxious gas, regaining some control over her senses before raising bleary eyes to the newcomer.

_Kaji is...is...a __**demon**__?!_

Kagome finds her jaw slackening as the youkai walks toward her, dragging two men across the street by the collars of their black fatigues, the bruises slowly darkening on their unconscious, now mask-less faces. The demon-woman drops them on the sidewalk, snorting in distaste before she turns to the miko, who finds herself on her feet almost instantly.

"It...it can't be...," she mutters, ignoring the dizziness that makes her head swim.

The youkai before her is approximately Kagome's height, and looks to be a few years older in age, with long, very light, almost blonde hair pulled high in a ponytail, short bangs and slightly longer wispy strands framing her thin face. The woman is wearing capri-length black pants and a matching sleeveless top, that just barely shows her mid-rift. A sword is strapped to one hip; a gun and a small, black pouch to the other; a knife tacked onto the outside of her right calf. She has pointed ears; deep-ruby colored eyes; and identical black stripes that slash their way across her arms and legs, from her wrists to her shoulders, and her ankles to somewhere beneath her capris. And although a thin, gold piece of metal winds it's way around the upper part of her right arm, and a pair of golden studs pierce her ears, both her hands and her feet remain bare.

"Hello, Kagome. Long time, no see."

The miko's mouth drops all the way open, as her chocolate eyes bug out of her head at the youkai smiling at her. She struggles for a second to get her voice working again, finally whispering her suspicions to the woman.

"Ki...Kilala?"

The demon smiles, nodding once before she steps forward and hugs the shocked girl, placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

"We don't have time for proper introductions right now, hun. Sesshomaru..."

"Where is it?"

The miko turns to her mother--and Tsuyosu, who she hadn't noticed until now--who were standing slightly behind her on the sidewalk, as the sound of the taiyoukai's voice carries from the direction of the Shrine. Sesshomaru lauches himself from the top of the stairs to the bottom, looking for all the world as if he's only hopped in place, and not just jumped more than a hundred feet. Kagome can see Sota, her grandfather, and Tsuyoku standing at the top. Though she's not actually sure that she's not gotten the twin bodyguards confused with one another.

"It is time, Kagome."

The young priestess forces herself to focus on the dog-demon, idly taking in the fact that he's not wearing either the colorful robes she had seen him wearing in Feudal Japan, nor the professional business suit he'd been wearing when she and Sota had been to his estate.

Now the youkai was sporting something like Kilala was: black, casual, probably cotton pants and a plain shirt, though his has sleeves and was not showing his stomach area. A pair of heavy-duty boots completes the ensemble, while a dark-brown bag is slung over one shoulder. Kagome can see Tokijin and Tenseiga resting in their customary places, a gun on his opposing hip, like the nekomata.

"Where is it, Kagome?"

The girl blinks, suddenly realizing that the inordinate amount of time she had been waiting was over, and that it was finally _time._

_Time_ to fight. _Time_ to rescue her friends. _Time_ to kick some evil researcher...

"Er...right," she says, wiping her eyes again so that she can actually see by the light of the street-lamps, retrieving the blue box from the pocket of her pants.

"I do not know how long it will take," Sesshomaru suddenly says, stopping the girl before she opens the lid. "Shiori, you come with us. Souten, you stay and help Tsuyosu and Tsuyoku... _clean up _the mess and guard the grounds until Jazu arrives. If any more come before then, retreat and send Risuto."

Kagome does a double-take as two women...no, two _demons_, appear out of the night, one of them with bluish-silver hair and deep-violet eyes, the other with midnight-black hair and red eyes. Both women flash quick smiles at the miko before nodding assent to the taiyoukai's orders.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

The dark-haired woman immediately begins moving the prone bodies lying on the sidewalk and in the street, carrying three of them back in the direction she had come. The other continues to watch the scene, her expression now carefully blank.

"Kagome."

The girl turns slowly to the silver-haired demon, her brain still trying to catch up with everything that was happening. She sees Tsuyosa slowly ushering her mother up the Shrine steps, whispering quietly in her ear.

"Uh...right," she says again, moving the hand not holding the box so that she can open the lid, sending Sesshomaru a quick, confirmatory glance and waiting until he nods before lifting the lid and removing the small, glittering, deeply-blue orb from inside.

Kagome instantly feels her hand begin warm, though the sensation isn't at all painful. More like her skin had been very cold before, and now the feeling was starting to return, her fingers and palm tingling. The small ball is somewhat heavy, but the miko is sure that she could toss it into the air, and it would all but float back down to her.

Again casting a wary glance at the demon in charge of this mission, Kagome lifts the sphere...

...and places it into her mouth, swallowing it.

The girl has the vague idea that the ball is essentially melting as it slides down her throat, not at all what she thought would happen. The two demon-women standing around her cast the girl half-approving, half-worried looks, before moving to stand in the middle of the street. Sesshomaru steps close to the girl's ear, whispering quickly before he joins Kilala and Shiori.

"Do not fight it."

The miko nods, but the taiyoukai is already in the street. Kagome feels her eyes starting to bulge from their sockets again, as all three youkai were beginning to transform into their true forms, right here in the middle of the city.

Before she can utter a protest, the priestess feels her hands beginning to..._fade_. There was no other word for it. One minute she can feel the breeze passing over her skin, and the next... nothing. It was like they weren't even there.

Kagome glances down, surprise and alarm making her heart rate speed up, at the fact that her body was slowly vanishing before her eyes. Well, not _exactly_ vanishing. It was more like she was becoming the night itself.

The girl's skin was now shades of deep-blue and black, and shimmered slightly when she moved. Her clothes, also, had merged along with her, and where before there had been a distressed teen in green cargos and a grey tee, there was now only an outline. Kagome had blended almost perfectly with the darkness.

"Kagome?"

The girl turns toward her mother, hearing the distress plainly in the older woman's panicky voice.

"Don't worry, mom," she says, finding that her voice barely seems to be louder than a leaf as it falls from a tree. "We'll be back soon."

The girl's mother seems to take very little comfort from this statement, and suddenly, Kagome knows--_knows_--exactly how her mother feels.

She knows that her mother's fear for Inuyasha and Shippo was greater than she ever let on, but that it's only because she already loves them as if they were her own...

She knows that Tsuyosa only shaves his hair because his brother--Tsuyoku--was in an accident when he was younger, and can no longer grow any of his own...

She knows that Sota--the little twit--used to hide Ramen for Inuyasha during the quest, so that she'd have to buy more when she went shopping...

...that Kilala has had a secret crush on Sesshomaru, for more than two centuries now...

...that the man who ran the fish market two blocks over was actually allergic to salmon...

...that Youpai was having an argument with her mother over just who exactly shot J.R. ...

...that her teacher, Mrs. Yohomana, who lived more than a mile away, was a closet thespian, and always wanted to visit New York, and be on Broadway...

...that the President of Tokyo University was having an affair with his secretary..._'s_ _husband_...

...that the Emperor has a secret obsession for gummi bears, and has his own, private shipment sent from Germany to the Palace the second Wednesday of every month...

And on and on...

All these thoughts came to the-barely visible girl in rapid, picture-like flashes, or vague, almost-forgotten memories. Trying to sort them out had absolutely no effect whatsoever, as millions of them were fighting their way into her head, making what was physically left of her brain hurt all the more.

"Focus."

Kagome glances up, her gaze landing on the fully-transformed dog-demon standing in the street, a two-tailed cat with blue-white flames licking at her feet beside him, a surprisingly pretty, lightly-silver bat floating several feet above their heads, helping to blocking the streetlamps.

Not bother to wonder how Sesshomaru managed to speak to her when he was in his true form, the girl takes a deep breath, holding the taiyoukai's amber gaze for a moment before she closes her eyes--she thinks--and tries to focus on the few thoughts that might tell her where to find her demons.

Almost as soon as she puts her mind to it, Kagome finds that she knows _exactly_ where Inuyasha and Shippo are being held, and glances in that direction, now wondering how she's going to get there. Should she ride Kilala? Or Sesshomaru, even?

"Go."

Frowning slightly, the miko turns back to the demons, seeing Sesshomaru nod his extremely large head in the direction she had been looking a moment before. Finding herself now slightly annoyed with the youkai, she rolls her eyes, thinking that the demon-lord was going to look like an idiot for telling her to start walking, when she was still obviously just a human, with human reflexes, even though she could now blackmail everyone within a 100-mile radius.

Forcing back an irritated sigh, Kagome takes a step off the sidewalk, pushing lightly with her other foot to miss the pile of leaves that had collected against the grate...

...and finds herself slammed into the side of a car the next block up.

"What the...?"

Kagome hears a faintly amused chuckle from the enormous white dog now walking serenely toward her, while an untransformed Kilala kneels beside her.

"Are you ok? The arrogant mutt should have warned you before now... Can you stand? I don't think I can actually touch you..."

Kagome mutters something about teaching an old dog some new tricks, taking a moment's satisfaction from the growl floating toward her before she slowly gets to her feet. She nods at Kilala that she's ok, and the nekomata steps back, changing back into her now much-larger form.

The miko shakes her head to get the dizziness to pass, then turns to face the North, taking a few small steps and lightly hopping forward, in awe of the fact that she just essentailly jumped a distance that would have normally taken her at least ten minutes to walk.

Feeling a hugely satisfactory grin crossing her face, the girl turns to the three youkai tailing her, flashing them a toothy smile reminiscent of Inuyasha before she bows deeply to them, trying to keep from laughing outright at their puzzled expressions.

"Do try to keep up."

And with that...Kagome is _gone_.

Instantly, and without a trace. Well...almost.

Sesshomaru and Kilala immediately take to the sky with Shiori, who has a few meters lead because of the fact that she was already airborne. The bat is flying about a hundred feet off the ground, just barely keeping the almost-invisible, now super-powered miko in her sight as Kagome sprints through the city streets, quickly becoming bored with the roads and taking to the building's rooftops, like Inuyasha would do when he came through to this time.

"_How long can she keep that up?"_

Sesshomaru is quiet for a few seconds, keeping one eye on the speeding miko, and the other on the humans below them, making sure that none of them sees anything more than a passing blur.

"_It depends. On how far we have to go. And her own powers."_

Kilala growls lightly to herself, following the flowing silver-white fur just in front of her as she, the dog-demon, and the bat-demon ahead of them make a slight turn to the left, entering the downtown district. The nekomata sees Kagome launch herself almost straight upward, gaining height from the towering skyscrapers so that she can get more distance when she jumps. The cat feels her heart jump into her throat.

"_Is it safe to let her do that?"_

Again, the demon-lord remains quiet, though he does manage to send the feline a slightly condescending glance before looking forward again.

"_Yes...woman. She is immortal while the orb is inside her. Only when it's power is used completely will the girl again be vulnerable."_

Kilala doesn't know whether to comment on the fact that Sesshomaru's tone was implying that she should have already known this information, or that he had referred to her as a _woman_, which he'd never done before. Granted, they had only seen each other a few times since his brother had been sealed to the tree the second time, but still. It was an improvement over just her name, or barely being acknowledged at all, which was the usual with the dog-demon. Maybe she was finally beginning to make an impression on him, though not likely, considering who the nekomata was referring to.

"_Then we'd better make sure she's not alone when she finds their hide-out."_

Without waiting for a reply, the feline surges forward, leaving a trail of blue flame for the other two to follow as she comes within a few paces of the almost-flying miko, flashing her a wink when Kagome looks over. The girl glances behind her, biting her lip to stifle the laugh at the shock on Sesshomaru's elongated, canine face.

**OoooOoooO**

"Here?"

Kagome nods, peering over the mound she and the three demons were currently hiding behind, to the broken-down, almost-doorway set into the ground more than 200 feet on the other side. The miko had led their small group to what seemed to be an abandoned mine just inside the Niigata Prefecture, a little more than a hundred miles almost directly north of Tokyo.

"Find the other entrance-ways."

The girl turns, catching Sesshomaru's intense, heated gaze, before he tilts his head to his opposite side.

"There must be more than one access point. It would be foolish to think otherwise."

Kagome looks around to the two women standing slightly behind him, frowning slightly in concentration as they nod at her. A few seconds later, another memory-like flash comes to her, of at least three more 'doors,' though the girl is sure that there's even more than those.

"This way."

The miko turns to her right, preparing to sprint toward the next door, when a clawed hand rests lightly on her shoulder before being shocked. Kagome turns to see the taiyoukai hissing under his breath, as the hand that had touched her smokes lightly, the flesh of his palm now bright red.

"Didn't I tell you?"

Kagome finds herself staring as Kilala pulls a cloth from one of her pockets, removing a small vial from her pouch and pouring half of the contents onto it before placing it to Sesshomaru's burn. The dog-demon gives her a scowl, but doesn't move otherwise, as the miko and the komori watch in confusion.

"What happened?"

Kilala looks to the two other women, giving them a forced grin as she wraps the cloth tightly around the male youkai's hand, tying it off.

"Kagome is..._volatile_ to demons right now. The orb she swallowed increases specific miko abilities more than a hundred times. If any of us touch her, our auras are instantly purified; that's why this..._dog_ was burned," Kilala says, ignoring the light growl coming from beside her. "It only allows certain expansions of her powers, though. Speed; healing--though only something on par with Tokijin's _Dragon Strike_, or Tetsusaiga's _Wind Scar _could even scratch her. The ability to feel others emotions is increased so that she can almost read their minds, which is how she knew to come here. Almost everything else is unaffected. Her senses: sight, hearing, smell; none of those change; neither does her level of strength. Stamina increases, though, to keep up with her increased speed..."

"Enough. We are wasting time. Explain later."

The girls turn to see Sesshomaru facing the direction Kagome had been heading a few moments before. He flexes his hand a few times, cursing not-quite-silently under his breath.

"...days to heal..."

The demon-lord snorts loudly before turning back to face the other demons and the semi-powered-up miko.

"Shiori. You will stay here and take Piman and 3 others when he arrives. Send Oushi and the rest after us."

The bat-demon nods, giving Sesshomaru a slight bow before crouching behind the hill to await their reinforcements. The other three give a last glance to the far doorway, heading back in the direction they had come before Kagome turns almost directly East to find the next entrance point.

"Where did you get the orb?" Kagome asks after several minutes, aiming her question mostly at Sesshomaru, but turning to her other side when the dog-demon does nothing but stare straight ahead. The miko hears Kilala give a soft laugh before she answers the question.

"Before she died, Kikyo had a vision that you would need help, sometime after you woke Inuyasha and Shippo. It did not tell her when, or even why, but the miko was so convinced that it wasn't simply a dream, that she commissioned Miroku into helping her make the Sphere of Akumu."

Kagome turns to the cat-demon in shock as the three of them start to slow down, a dozen questions running through her head as the trio comes within sight of a large drain that empties into a shallow stream. They stay well away, though, not wanting to alert their prey to their intrusion.

"Questions later," Sesshomaru says, seeing the miko about to open her mouth. "Stay here, Kilala, until Oushi arrives. Leave him, Furea, and ten of the humans, then follow us to the next door."

The nekomata nods, not bowing to the demon-lord, but giving him a smirk instead, before he and the miko take off again.

"Infuriating wench..."

Kagome bites her lip to keep from laughing, pretending that she was concentrating too hard on finding the next door, as the inu-youkai obviously didn't mean to say that out loud. In actuality, she had far too much confusion whirling around in her head to really give the amusing pair much more than a passing thought, anyway.

_Miroku and Kikyo made the orb... The Sphere of Akumu? Nightmares? I bet Miroku had something to do with that name, but why __**nightmares**__...? And why are there humans helping us? I saw a few of Sesshomaru's demons as we ran through the city... I bet he had them stationed so that they weren't all in one place, and that it would be easier to alert the others once one saw which direction we were heading... And not having a huge group of demons flying through downtown Tokyo would have been a big plus, too..._

Kagome takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose as the first hint of fatigue starts to press itself on her.

"The Sphere is starting to lose it's powers. We must hurry."

The miko glances to her left, giving the demon-lord a silent nod and increasing her speed so that they arrive at the next entrance a minute later. The small shack looks like it hasn't been touched in years, and is likely to fall in on itself any second.

"Go to the next one. Wait for me there."

Kagome nods, turning slightly west and disappearing into the night. Within a few minutes she comes upon a what looks like a dried-up well. The girl rolls her eyes, wondering if the researchers inside knew of the irony before she settles herself under a peach tree, just resisting the urge to snack on one of the fruits. About five minutes pass before she feels the pull of Sesshomaru's aura and stands, turning in his direction.

The girl thinks she should be surprised, but starts to feel the seriousness with which Sesshomaru has planned his attack when she sees Kilala following close on his heels, at least six more demons trailing some feet behind them. A larger group of what are probably humans can be seen in the distance.

"Next."

The girl takes another second to stare as the unmistakeable silouette of semi-automatics reaches her eyes, before she turns away, going from stock-still to full-out in less than a second.

_He's not taking any chances. I would say that he's not even going to take prisoners... What happened to the men at the Shrine, then?_

Kagome doesn't want to think about those men at the moment, and continues moving forward, increasing her pace again. They find the next door--an abandoned car, of all things--sitting in the middle of a rice paddy.

"Anyone else feel ridiculous? We're staking out a _car_, for Kami's sake._" _

Kagome turns a grin to the nekomata, but stifles her laugh at the narrow glare Kilala is getting from Sesshomaru.

"Do these things seem connected to you?"

The feline seems to consider the question for a moment before shrugging. "I suppose not," she says, half-rolling her eyes before the three of them head out again.

The next doorways they find are a grouping of silos, which Kagome spends several minutes pacing in front of before she discovers the one with the actual entrance to the underground facility; a cave at the base of a small mountain, which was farther away than the others had been, and irritated Sesshomaru to no end by the time they finally reached it; a village-- surprisingly modernized--though the entrance was hidden in the horse's stable, behind a wall of hay and the group had to be extra careful not to attract attention to themselves, lest one of the villagers give them away; and finally, a boathouse on the edge of a lake, the dwindling group silently thanking Kami that the door wasn't actually _underneath_ the water itself. Sesshomaru orders the men he's leaving to find and _quietly_ destroy all the watercraft before they attack, however. He doesn't want any of the perpetrators to escape.

"This is the last?" the demon-lord asks after the remaining men--all of them demons, and not all of them actually _men_, come to stand resolutely behind their leader. Sesshomaru frowns as he takes a soft _whiff_ of the air coming off the water.

"Shiori and her group are less than a minute in that direction," Kilala says, pointing somewhere south of their current position, while giving Kagome a wink. "Once they have the signal..."

The miko tunes out the female demon as she turns to face the direction each of the far-off entrances lay, feeling a frown similar to Sesshomaru's pulling on her face just before another image of _another_ gateway, this one larger than the others, jumps to the forefront of her mind. Kagome takes a few steps away from the group, also trying to concentrate her wearing powers on something that had been pulling on her mind, so focused as she was on simply finding the access points to the facility. She gasps suddenly, drawing the eyes of the demons, though a pair of deep amber ones had already been watching her for several minutes.

"There's one more. In the center of this...circle, I suppose," she says, pointing east. "It's larger than the others. Near...uh, _koi_, actually."

Sesshomaru gazes silently at the miko's puzzled expression for a second or two before he speaks, an almost amused smirk on his lips.

"There is a large farm that produces some of the best in the country about a mile from here. I imagine they are using it as a front."

The young priestess glances at the demon in surprise, but doesn't say anything more about it. Instead, she voices their other problem.

"Is there at least one human at each...er, station?"

"Why?"

Kagome turns to Kilala, who is wearing a slight scowl. She catches the taiyoukai's gaze as she looks back at the last entrance-way, but notices that the demon hasn't commented on her strange question.

"There are...wards...around the doorways. Well, not exactly _wards_, I don't think, because I couldn't feel any spiritual powers coming from them when we passed each one," the girl says, frowning as she thinks. "They're probably more like sensors that can measure a youkai's aura, and they're set to alert the compound if tripped. If a demon passes into their range before they're disarmed, the _Hisashi no Shorai_ will know we're coming."

The miko looks back to Sesshomaru when she finishes, but the demon-lord is already addressing his men.

"Each of you return to a portal. Make sure that there is at least one human in the group, who can cripple the sensors. We begin the assault in ten minutes. You have nine before I destroy the fishery. Go."

Each of the demons gives a swift bow before high-tailing it back around the mock-perimeter they had set up, half heading toward the small village, and half aiming for the abandoned mineshaft.

"Come with me."

Kagome and Kilala follow the taiyoukai as he sets off in a swift lope toward Shiori's station, but angling slightly so that they head toward the koi ponds. Kagome feels her powers starting to drain more quickly now, and thinks that in less than 20 minutes or so, she'll only be able sense the auras of the demons in front of her, and nothing more.

"Slowing down, hun?"

The miko nods to the nekomata as Kilala slows her pace to run beside her, flashing a grim smile at the female demon.

"You'll be able to hug me again soon."

The feline grins widely, uttering an amused chuckle very reminiscent of how Miroku would sometimes sound. Kagome makes a mental note to question the woman endlessly when Inuyasha and Shippo are safe, and the evil researchers have been...taken care of.

"Here."

The two women slow to a stop as Sesshomaru comes to halt. Kagome can see the spires of a few buildings in the distance.

"Once we are inside, stay close to me, even if the Sphere has not entirely worn off."

The miko nods at Sesshomaru's back, wondering why he seemed to have unconsciously taken it upon himself to watch out for her.

_Probably because he'll never hear the end of it from Inuyasha if anything happens to me..._the girl thinks, hesitating a moment before sticking her tongue out at the demon. She sees a quick movement from Kilala, and turns to see the nekomata holding one hand over her face, silent laughter making her shoulders shake.

"Something amusing?"

The women turn back to the dog-demon, shaking their heads and giving him what they hope are innocent grins. Sesshomaru narrows his amber gaze, but doesn't respond, and turns back to face the tenth entryway, beginning to change into his true form again.

"Er...right," Kilala says after a moment, following the inu's lead.

A few minutes later, the miko hears a soft growl from the canine of the group, and nods her assent, launching herself toward the fish farm, idly feeling sorry for the poor koi whose fate had already been decided.

**OoooOoooO**

"What was that?"

Haka turns to his companion, who just shakes his head in response, his dark eyes wide. The two technicians sprint into the hallway, forgetting to even close Shippo's door behind them in the wake of the explosion that had rocked the entire facility's foundation. The men glance at each other for a moment before heading for the main offices, sprinting up two flights of stairs and down several hallways, seeing many of their collegues exit the rooms they had been working in, puzzled frowns on each of their faces.

"What's going on?" a fairly pretty, dark-haired woman asks, stopping Majo by grabbing his arm.

"We don't know. We were..."

Suddenly, another louder--_closer_--explosion rocks the hallways, sending small objects crashing to the floor, books to toppling from shelves, and the overhead lights to flickering in their casings.

The scattered technicians mumble among themselves for several seconds, before the sound of _whooshing_ reaches their ears, followed by a woman's scream.

"RUN!"

Before anyone can move, a frantic tech rounds a far corner, her grey eyes wide as she continues to yell at her white-coated friends. A second later, a wall of water containing dozens of brightly-colored koi barrels down the corridor after her, finally catching up and knocking the girl off her feet before taking the majority of the people in the hall with her and sweeping them deeper inside the compound.

The few who manage to keep their positions, either by dashing back into their rooms or holding onto something bolted to the white walls, such as the case holding a fire-extinguisher, drag themselves to their feet, desperately wish they hadn't when they see the apparition glaring at them from the other end of the hall.

Sesshomaru doesn't even have time to growl threatening before the technicians start screaming, running helter-skelter in odd directions, some of them knocking each other unconscious, and even a few thinking that a locked door will keep an angry youkai from breaking it down.

"Oh, this is entertaining."

Kilala holds back a laugh, pushing her soaked bangs out of her eyes before she sprints forward, taking pity on the terrified humans and knocking them all unconscious. Kagome and Sesshomaru follow, the demon-lord simply pushing the metal doors open, restraining his strength greatly so that he doesn't kill the men and women outright.

"They're not fighters, Sess. We destroyed their helicopters and the armory, and killed those guards, but these people are mostly just researchers."

"You think I should let them live, then?"

The nekomata frowns as she turns toward the inu-youkai. Sesshomaru's expression is something between controlled fury and berserker-rage, his golden eyes having switched over to red the minute they set foot inside the compound. He could smell the more than two-dozen demons within it's walls.

"Would you sink to their level, my Lord?"

Kagome lets her eyes switch over to the almost serene gaze that Kilala was sending the taiyoukai, watching him intently as he considers her words. She keeps silent, though, neither commenting on the honorific or the nick-name, or the challenge the other woman had set the demon-lord, though she desperately wishes that she could simply leave and begin searching for her friends.

A stabbing pain had lanced through her heart just before they had entered the building, crippling the girl so much that she tumbled out of her run and nearly took a dive into the nearest pond. Ignoring the two demons circling worredly above her, the miko had forced herself to her feet, dashed to the doorway of the small, almost pristine building housing the fry, headed for another opening on the far side.

Picking up a shovel that was standing with some of it's fellow farming implements, Kagome had knocked down the door, smashed the small, square box just inside it, above the stairs leading down into darkness, then run back outside, giving a wave to Sesshomaru before the two youkai had destroyed the building, using some sort of combined attack.

The sound waves, from each demon's roar and howl, respectively, completely flattened the structure, and the small cavern beneath it, taking out a few more buildings and crushing two helicopters, and several jeep-like vehicles below them. Kagome was thankful that they hadn't seen anyone in the buildings, but with so much debris, she wasn't exactly 100 percent positive that someone hadn't been buried beneath the destroyed farm.

The attack had also made most of the structured ponds collapse in on themselves, thus flooding the research compound below. Of course, more than one had waited until the three of them had descended inside before they burst, thus the reason the trio was soaked.

Cursing up a storm that would make his brother proud, Sesshomaru had led the sloshy way, keeping Kagome between himself and Kilala as the three of them came upon what was most likely the facility's armory. Back-up arrived a few seconds later, and then 6 demons and more than a dozen humans made short work of the outfit that had been aiming deadly weapons at them, a few even managing to fire off some rounds, though no one was hit.

The miko fights the urge she has to run through the hallways, screaming her demons' names at the top of her lungs, possibly alerting the enemy to one of the main reasons for their presence. Instead, she makes herself wait, as the two noses before her were more likely to lead her straight to Inuyasha and Shippo than if she had a full day to search the compound.

"Their level is worse than mine."

Kilala raises her brows, giving the youkai a small smirk.

"True. But wasn't there a time when you did not hesitate to kill any human that happened to cross your path? Is it such a stretch to think they can reform, when you yourself have done exactly that? Well...mostly, anyway."

Sesshomaru turns his full glare on the spunky feline grinning at him, his nostrils flaring momentarily as he tries to control his flash of anger. Clenching one fist tightly around Tokijin, the demon turns on his heel, heading toward the stairwell, where the light scent of a fox was concentrating.

"Meddling feline..."

Kilala gives Kagome a wink as they proceed to follow the irritated inu, the neko pausing a moment to knock out a technician that had hidden himself in broom closet. Their group didn't need any stragglers making a getaway.

"The Ministry of Defense has promised to take care of the...uh, survivors," Kilala whispers, after heading down the stairs after the sulking demon. "Sesshomaru doesn't trust the Monarchy right now, as they were the ones who started all this, over a hundred and fifty years ago. It helps that the Minister is a horse-demon that he has been in contact with for almost that long." Kilala refrains from saying 'friends.' By his choice, Sesshomaru didn't have any of those.

Kagome finds herself nodding, then almost immediately clutching her wet tee afterward, the pain in her chest getting infinitely worse. She struggles to keep her feet beneath her, to keep breathing, feeling a moment of horror when Kilala places one hand underneath her shoulders and virtually carries her after the dog-demon, who had paused at an intersection to wait on them.

"You...you can touch me now?" she asks, forcing her words past her pain.

"Yes. The Sphere's influence on you is almost complete."

Kilala looks up, sending a sneer to the inu-youkai. "I feel a little queasy, though, so it's not been completely absorbed by her yet," she says, helping Kagome around the corner and coming up short.

The trio can see several of their comrades at the far end, Souten--of all people...er, _demons_--sitting against one wall, holding an unconscious man with bright red hair.

"Shippo!"

Kilala immediately lifts Kagome into her arms and dashes up the hallway, almost skidding to a stop in front of the collected group. They all jump when the sound of gunfire, yelling, screaming, and at least one explosion sounds from somewhere below them.

"He's alright. We found him on the floor, in there," the thunder-demon says, pressing her lips tightly together for a moment to keep her voice from shaking. "They gave him something that slowed his senses and vitals, but he should be okay in a few hours."

Kagome finds that are tears in her eyes, and kneels beside her friend, placing a lingering kiss on his cool forehead. She finds that she doesn't really care about the fact that most of the beings standing beside her are staring quite openly.

"He's not here."

The group turns to the taiyoukai, who has walked past the group and knocked down the door to a room on the other side of Shippo's, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly through his nose.

"He's been out for several hours."

Kagome finds that she doesn't like the implication in Sesshomaru's tone, and sends him a scowl before the demon turns toward her. She immediately fights down a gasp, at the quick flash of worry that had crossed his face. She'd never before seen that emotion on his face.

Suddenly remembering the feeling she had gotten while she and Youpai had been studying in her room all those months ago--the time Inuyasha had been injured by Naraku--the girl surges to her feet, fighting down the panic and horror rising in her throat as a strong arm wraps itself around her waist.

"Fan out. Find the others; there are at least two dozen more being held here. After you clear a section, bring it down."

The youkai mumble words of assent, but Sesshomaru and Kagome are already gone. Kilala hesitates a moment before following them, deciding that the miko will need her if they should happen to find...something she desperately wishes they wouldn't.

**OoooOoooO**

After several minutes of winding back and forth down wet corridors, some lit, some not, and strange, not-in-the-least-bit-comforting sounds and smells coming from several of the rooms, the trio finds themselves at a circular cross-roads, four doors set into the walls, and another hallway leading in opposite direction from which they came, what looks like another door and an intersecting hallway at the far end.

"You can't find his scent?" Kilala asks, stopping beside the priestess as Sesshomaru finally sets the girl on her feet. Kagome leans against the other woman for support, her knees feeling so weak that she wonders how she can stand at all.

_Did the Sphere do this to me? Or something else...?_

"It's been washed away. It was strong in the room, but he's not been back in it for several hours. They use powerful disinfectants. And the air exchanges must be set to more than the standard 10 per hour," Sesshomaru says, walking to one door, only to find it filled with rows and rows of large, black computers. He enters the room, returning less than a minute later, after destroying everything inside with Tokijin. The lights overhead flicker momentarily, before the back-up generators kick-in, plunging the group into semi-darkness.

"How do we find him, then? Kagome can't use the orb anymore," Kilala says, leaving the miko against one wall and opening another door, seeing a sort of storage room for lab coats. She searches behind and between the racks, finding an assortment of face masks, goggles, gloves, and boots as well, using some of her fire to flame the room before she exits, shutting the door forcefully and ignoring the melting doorknob. Kagome just stares.

"I suppose we must search all the rooms," Sesshomaru says, fighting to keep his irritation in check. Kilala gives him a shrug, moving to the closest of the other two doors, while the male demon does the same.

Kagome watches them for a second as they open the doors, a strange sort of high-pitched wailing seeming to coincide with their openings. The miko frowns for a moment, thinking that the noise was coming from one of those rooms, but the source sounded much farther away than just a few feet.

Feeling dread wash over her, the girl raises her eyes to the long hallway, seeing a man at the far end pointing and shouting in her direction, having apparently just left the room behind him.

Kagome, however, isn't watching him, but is instead focused on the still, silver-haired figure lying on a table inside the room, a small box above his head, a flat green line scrolling across it.

"INUYASHA!"

The priestess is moving before she even hears Kilala shout her name, sprinting up the hallway as fast as she can, ignoring the protest of her lungs and muscles. She vaguely sees several dark objects enter her path, before she's suddenly flattened to the ground, the sound of bullets flying over her head, and what can only be the _snap_ of Sesshomaru's _Energy Whip_. Kagome also hears the several dull thuds from in front of her before she struggles from Kilala's grasp and darts up the hallway, essentially ignoring everything around her, and running full-tilt into another guard just before she gets the room containing Inuyasha.

The man grabs her arms, pins her to the ground, and points a gun to her temple, but Kagome screams in his face before he can pull the trigger.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

Strangely, the man goes flying upward as the girl knees him in the stomach, connecting with the ceiling before he falls to the the floor, unconscious. The miko scrambles to her feet and dives into the room as more bullets fly behind her, the sounds of fighting beginning as Kilala and Sesshomaru reach the intersection and tackle the guards.

_No... NO!_

Kagome virtually slams into Inuyasha as tears begin flowing freely down her cheeks, yanking the sensors off his torso and knocking the evil machine to the ground to silence the infuriating wail it was still making, missing one on his hip in her frantic rampage.

She gently cups his face in her hands, her pain increasing when she feels the coolness of his skin, and sees the blue stripes on his cheeks and the warped metal that was still holding his wrists and ankles to the table.

Lowering herself slowly to the boy's bare chest, the girl sobs against him, feeling herself slowly dying, her rationality already beginning to slip away, though her pain was getting worse.

_It wasn't supposed to be like this... You aren't supposed to...to... Come back! You come back right this minute, you baka! I can't do this by myself! I don't __**want**__ to! You can't die! You can't, not yet! I won't let you! You have to live, Inuyasha!_

The miko suddenly sits up in shock, as a heat begins burning in the middle of her chest. She stares down at her drying tee, her eyes getting wider as what can only be descibed as 'light' begins shining from just below her ribs.

Before she can process what's happening, the sound of thunder echoes around the room, and Kagome finds herself flying through the air, feeling the faint echo of a heartbeat in her chest before she slams into a wall and falls into oblivion.

* * *

Er... Am I evil? ;)


	15. Awakenings

Surprise! :P Another chap, obviously. Had to get this written before the sadness left me. Don't worry! It's a good ending, I promise. I decided not to cliffy you guys since the last one scared some people, I think. I'll talk more at the end. :)

* * *

For the past several minutes, she'd been listening to the quiet sounds in the darkness.

The thrumming _patter_ of the raindrops against the windows, and the faint _crackling_ of a fire somewhere on the other side of the room. And soft, regular ticking, or possibly beeping--she wasn't sure, exactly--but assumed that it was a clock of some kind. And a very quiet, rhythmic, almost _whoosh-_like sound, which she couldn't quite place either, but thought it may have been a ceiling fan, though her grasp of such things was tenuous right now.

_Why is a fire lit in the middle of summer? _she absently wonders, not especially caring if she finds the answer to that question. She didn't particularly care about anything right now, other than falling back into the blissful, dreamless sleep she'd been unwillingly awoken from a few minutes ago.

_So much __**pain**__..._

The young woman hurt. And not just emotionally. Everything just _ached_. Like she'd run a marathon she hadn't prepared for, or been beaten just this side of unconsciousness. Her arms and legs refused to respond to her instructions; her head felt like it was going to explode. Even her _bones_ protested, as if she had the flu; the slightest movement felt as if someone had touched one of her nerves themselves, as a wave of mind-numbing pain and nausea swarmed over her. She never knew what people meant when they said even their hair hurt, but she definitely understood that phrase now; she could personally attest to it. Unfortunately, her physical discomfort was nothing when compared to the despondent throb in her heart.

The girl refused to think about what she'd seen before she'd fallen into blackness. It simply hadn't happened. She wouldn't believe it, because she knew that if she slipped and let the truth into her mind, that she would never be the same. She would find herself in a place she wouldn't return from, and didn't think she would want to, anyway.

Despite these thoughts, Kagome still finds a pair of soft, golden eyes floating in her mind's eye, liquid pinpricks of sorrow forming at the edges of her lids a moment later. She bites down hard on her tongue to keep them at bay, only to find the pain of this action making her tears fall even faster.

The girl releases a vague resemblance to the boy's name as a choked sob escapes her, though his name is only heard by Kagome herself as another voice speaks her own.

"Kagome? Are you awake?"

"Mama?"

The girl sobs again as the shadow of her mother blocks the small amount of light that had been filtering into her closed eyes, presumably from a window or the fire. Kagome starts as Kajina places a soft hand against her cheek, the touch bringing more of the girl's fragile emotions to the surface, though not necessarily because of the pain it causes.

"Mama... I...Inu..."

Kagome can't get her voice to form anything more, and releases another sob, struggling through her pain to raise her hand and take her mother's. Confusion and sudden fear grips her heart as the warm flesh disappears from her cheek.

"Ma..."

The girl reacts involuntarily as light floods through her lids, shutting them as tightly as she can and trying not to wince at the bright intrusion. She gets another shock when she feels her mother gently take one of her arms and pull her into a sitting position, the abrupt rightening of her world making the girl dizzy and nauseous, in addition to the physical discomfort.

She takes several minutes to catch her breath and control her agony, as her mother settles on the bed behind her and props her daughter against her chest, holding the teen close and gently stroking her hair.

"Open your eyes, Kagome," the woman says, emotion making her own voice sound shaky to the girl's ears.

The young miko frowns slightly to herself, wondering what difference knowing any more about her surroundings is going to make. She obeys her mother's command anyway and slowly forces her lids open, taking several seconds to adjust to the yellow-white lamp-light now flooding the room.

Kagome's heart stops--for the second time in less than 48 hours--though she doesn't know that yet.

"I...Inuyasha?"

The girl feels her tears start again, leaving wet trails down her cheeks as she sees the silver-haired hanyou lying not 20 feet away, on a similar cot-like bed as herself, his chest slowly rising and falling as he breathes--the barely-there _whooshing _sound she had heard in the darkness. Multiple tubes and wires connect him to several life-support devices. The soft ticking she had been hearing wasn't a clock, but was in fact another of the evil machines she had seen attached to him before, though this time it was releasing a steady _beeping_, a sound Kagome suddenly found to be the most wonderful she had ever heard.

"What... what...happened?" she manages to ask, over the sniffles and choking sobs she was making. "Why's he got all those...?"

"You saved him, dear. I'm not sure on the details, so it's better if Sesshomaru explains what happened," Kajina whispers, nudging her head to the open side of the room--the study that the taiyoukai had met the girl and her brother in when they'd visited his estate. Kagome manages to stifle her gasp when she sees the demon calmly reclined in a comfy chair, though his expression is clearly strained, and the miko thinks there might be the slightest hint of bags under his golden eyes. Had Sesshomaru been worried? And if he had, about who, exactly?

"It was the last of the power contained in the orb," the demon says, leaning forward and rubbing his temples before resting his arms across his knees. "That, combined with your priestess powers. It started his heart again, and purged some of the..._poison_...from his system. Fortunately. You also, Kagome, brought back his will to live, though no one is quite sure how." Sesshomaru hesitates a moment before speaking in a quiet whisper. "Which is the only reason he is alive right now."

Kagome feels the warmth from her mother, the heat in the room, and the knowledge that Inuyasha was _alive_, drain from her face. "What...what do you mean?" she asks, afraid that she already knows the answer, and dreading actually having to hear it.

The taiyoukai closes his eyes for a moment, standing slowly from his chair and moving to a tall, wooden cabinet against the wall, opening one of the lower doors and pulling out a bottle filled with some kind of brownish liquid inside it. He retrieves a small, glass tumbler and pours himself a drink, downing it in one gulp before speaking again. Kagome tries to keep her eyes in her head, which isn't easy, since they felt as if they were already halfway exposed anyway.

"Last night was his human night."

Kagome isn't aware that she's made any noise, except for the fact that her mother is whispering in her ear.

"It's been two days, dear," Kajina says, taking her daughter's shaking hand in her own and squeezing it lightly. "You two have been here since Tuesday night. Most of Mr. Hakujin's ...uh, associates have left. Kaji...Kilala, and Shippo are here. Dad is bringing Sota tomorrow morning. They went to get some things from the Shrine..."

Kagome feels her brain begin to protest at the information it was taking in, too much in too few minutes. She already had the one piece of news that she had desperately needed.

The girl tunes her mother out and lets her eyes focus once again on the hanyou, not that they had strayed away from him for more than a moment or two, anyway. Only for the few seconds when she'd examined his older brother's almost haggard appearance, and strange actions.

Deciding that she can ponder that more when she felt less like she'd just been in a sumo wrestling match, the miko lets her senses shut out everything except the soft, steady _beeping_ coming from a few feet away, swearing that she can actually hear the boy's heart beating, as if he was right next to her...

**OoooOoooO**

"You awake?"

Kagome nods, forcing herself to sit up, grateful when Shippo grabs her hand to help her. The kitsune settles himself beside the girl, giving her a quick kiss on the temple.

"Been boring without you, Kags. And Inuyasha. Sess isn't much of a host," the fox says, earning a small grin from the miko for the nickname he'd recently adopted for her, and the description of the taiyoukai, however accurate it may have been. Kagome leans against him, hugging the boy around the waist but remaining silent. Shippo adjusts one of the bandages around his arms, shaking his head at the slight ringing in his ear as his gaze follows the girl's to the still immobile figure on the other bed. The demon stifles a depressed sigh and continues. "Kilala's gone back to Osaka for a few days. Wouldn't say why, though. Your mom's taken over the kitchen; she's fixing lunch. You up for some oden? It's your favorite."

Kagome closes her eyes and buries her face in the demon's chest, taking deep breaths to calm her anxiety.

_Three days... And he still hasn't woken up..._

"Sure," the girl forces out, though she's positive that Shippo can see right through her attempt at being confident.

The kitsune wraps his arms around the young woman, giving her a tight hug, but still being careful of how fragile she was right now. And not just emotionally, either.

"I'll get us some bowls and then I can tell you what you missed after fainting on us," he says, standing slowly from the bed and giving Kagome a wink.

"I seem to recall that you weren't exactly sunshine and daisies either," she responds, giving the boy another smile as he leaves the study, laughing.

Kagome's smile slowly fades as her eyes wander back to the silver-haired half-demon, still hooked up to devices that were monitoring his heart rate and breathing, and bags that were delivering nutrients to his body, as well as saline and O-neg to dilute the poison still circulating through Inuyasha's system. The miko doesn't have the heart to think about the other machines; the ones that the hanyou should _never_ have had a reason to be hooked to.

The miko crosses her hands in her lap, thinking about the few things she had been told regarding that night, in the hour or two she'd been able to stay alert, when she'd actually awoken. This was the first day that the girl had been able to keep her eyes open for more than 20 minutes without feeling as if she'd just used every ounce of adrenaline her body had.

She had saved Inuyasha's life; that part was true. What her mother had failed to mention to the girl was that Kagome almost lost _hers_ in the process.

Kilala had explained that--in that moment--her will for Inuyasha to live had exceeded her own, overwhelming every other instinct and ounce of self-preservation that a being usually had. Kagome had essentially given Inuyasha her life force, for lack of a more appropriate term. Or part of it, if they were being entirely accurate. Or trying to be.

The nekomata still wasn't sure about the next part.

She and Sesshomaru had made quick work of the guards, coming into the room as Kagome had hit the wall and fallen to the floor, not breathing and with no heartbeat. Kilala took two seconds to assess the situation--explaining that she normally paraded as a human nurse--and ordered Sesshomaru to give the miko CPR while she tended to Inuyasha, who was convulsing again, his demonic side still trying to keep him alive, again, thank Kami.

Kagome shudders, letting her mind focus on the less disturbing aspect of that information. She still didn't want to think about the taiyoukai being that close to her, though.

_Eww... _she thinks, forcing herself to turn her thoughts back toward the explanation she had been told, and not dwell too much on what couldn't be changed. It was also making her appetite wain before she actually got any food.

Kilala had quickly removed the reddish liquid from where it was still dripping into the hanyou, replacing it with a bag of saline, cursing at the bindings holding him to the table. At this point reinforcements had arrived, and she ordered half of them to find a way to get the collar and ties off, and the other half to find medical supples. Good thing.

Because Inuyasha's heart had stopped again.

The demoness herself gave the boy CPR, but hadn't been able to revive him before Oushi--a weasel demon associate of Sesshomaru's--returned with a portable defibrillator and a bag of blood.

Inuyasha had needed the life-sustaining liquid--anyone's, no matter whose--to dilute the toxins that were killing him. He was currently on O-negative, as that type required his body the least amount of stress to change into a usable form.

Youkai's blood contained the almost virus-like ability to take over foreign cells and essentially turn them into their own, as if they'd come from the demons themselves. The miko had been slightly unnerved by that idea until Kilala explained that it was only within the body. That was part of the the reason why demons could heal so fast. Free blood was as harmless as a crimson, sticky, metallic-smelling, semi-liquid could be.

No one knew which type Inuyasha had received in the facility. According to Kilala, it didn't matter. Demons didn't posses the antigens or Rh factors in their blood as humans did, and as long as the hanyou got _something, _his body could work with it. As long as it was human.

In the state he had been in when he was found, a demon's blood would have killed Inuyasha almost instantly. Kilala had quickly determined the donor--human or demon--by taking a small taste, and--concluding that it was safe--had inserted another line into the boy's arm while Oushi had gotten the defibrillator ready.

Just as the two were about to shock him, however, Sesshomaru got Kagome's heart beating again. Inuyasha's started of it's own accord a second later, his breathing following almost immediately after.

The three youkai gave each other baffled looks--because Kagome had been gone for almost five minutes at this point, and they thought they were going to have to shock the girl as well--but they didn't wait any longer than that to move. Inuyasha was no longer convulsing, but his demon stripes were still on his cheeks, and his body was now shivering almost uncontrollably, his skin painfully hot to the touch. Kilala had said that his body temperature was somewhere around 110 degrees Farenheit by the time they got him out of the facility. Normal for a demon was 101.

Kagome feels a shiver run down her spine as she thinks about everything Sesshomaru's doctor would have had to do to the hanyou to stabilize him. She hadn't wanted the details, not sure that she could handle them so soon after waking up, herself. The miko hadn't even wanted the details concerning her own troubles, though she was sure that was what Shippo wanted to talk to her about.

"Kags?"

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear..._ the girl thinks with a small smile, turning her head toward the kitsune, who was trying to balance a tray containing several bowls and cups while closing the door behind him. The fox scowls at the wooden structure when the locking mechanism bounces off it's other half, the door coming to rest almost where it had started from. Shippo snorts--annoyed--before whipping his tail around and shutting the door with forceful _click_.

"Damn doorknobs," he mumbles, moving to sit at the other end of the girl's bed, missing her surprise at his change in attitude. The fox finally gives her a sheepish grin when he looks up, seeing Kagome's questioning look.

"Sorry, Kags. I'm a little...well, miffed, to tell you the truth. I ran into Sesshomaru on the way back. He wasn't...er, in a good...well, _normal_ mood. For him, anyways," the kitsune says, settling the tray of food between the two of them and handing her a pair of chopsticks. He waves vaguely at the bowls, indicating that she should begin eating while he explains. "Won't say what's wrong. Not surprised, really, considering who I'm talking about. But he did bare his fangs at me, which is unusual, to say the least. Didn't actually growl, though."

The miko stops with a piece of salmon halfway to her mouth, having decided to nibble on the sashimi while her oden cooled off a little.

"He actually _showed_ you his fangs?" the girl asks, blinking in surprise when the demon nods, taking a sip of his tea to calm his slightly frazzled nerves. "I don't think he's ever been that upset," she says, thinking about the assault a few days ago. Did the taiyoukai even bare his fangs then, in the middle of a battle?

"Yep. Inuyasha used to do it all the time. The intimidation thing," Shippo adds, when Kagome gives him a confused look, glad that the girl was distracted from staring at the injured hanyou for the moment. "Well, probably not so much anymore, but I've _never_ seen Sesshomaru do it. He doesn't need to."

Kagome finds herself nodding, closing the distance between her food and her mouth and chewing the fish slowly, but not really tasting it.

_Sesshomaru...upset? _

Something was obviously going on, as the dog-demon had been quiet for the past few days, whenever Kagome had seen him. He had only come into his study a couple of times, to retrieve something or other from his desk, or one of the many books lining the walls. He hadn't spoken to her after the first day she had woken up, but always stopped and watched her and his brother for a minute or two, but for what, the girl couldn't decide. Neither her mother, brother, grandfather, Kilala, the unamed doctor she saw every few hours, or Shippo, had mentioned that anything out of the ordinary was happening outside of the mini-clinic she'd been restricted to since she'd come to the estate.

"Does it have something to do with...the...facility?" Kagome asks, forcing her words to remain steady, though her heart was now racing. She doesn't think she can handle any more stress at the moment, and instantly feels relief when the fox shakes his head.

"I don't think so. According to Sess, everyone connected with the _Hisashi no Shorai_ has been taken care of, or is being...reformed."

"Reformed?"

Shippo grins as the miko gives him a blank look. "Yes. The Minister of Defense has the...er, survivors. He's giving them a choice: correct their attitudes, submit to memory alterations, confinement, or death. Most have chosen to erase their time working for the group. They don't want to know that demons did and still do exist. A few--the ones that saw us every day, and had to treat our injuries--are going through a trial period, to see if they can live with the knowledge that youkai exist while not doing anything about it."

"How long?" Kagome asks, popping one last shrimp into her mouth before pulling her warm bowl of oden into her lap, the comforting smell wafting gently up to her nose. She glances quickly over at the hanyou, feeling a faint smile come to her lips when she thinks about his reaction to not getting her mother's cooking. She makes a note to herself to make him anything he wants when he finally wakes up, rolling her eyes at what she's positive will be his request.

"What?" Shippo asks, having only seen the girl's almost-annoyed expression, and not the look she had given the half-demon before that.

"Nothing," she answers, shaking her head. "How long will those people have to...er, be on trial?" she asks, obviously sensing how stupid her question now sounded. Shippo gives her a grin.

"Oh...about 10 years," he says, patting the girl on the back when she chokes on her soup. "And they'll be watched afterward, of course. The last thing the Minister wants is another group to form. Not to mention Sess after his ass if that should happen."

Kagome coughs for a few more seconds, finally getting the liquid back into the correct pipe. She wipes her watery eyes before taking a sip of her tea, ignoring the grinning demon sitting at her feet.

"What about the rest?" she asks, knowing that not everyone would fit neatly into those two groups. The fox sighs and sets his bowl back on the tray before speaking.

"Some--mostly guards, but also a couple of the researchers, and all of the heads--refuse to do either. They'll be confined for a year, then reassessed. If they've changed their minds, then their memories will be altered, or they'll be given the chance to reform. If they still have the same attitude...they'll be terminated."

The miko is glad that she set her bowl down at the same time that the kitsune did, otherwise she might have dropped it onto the blanket covering her legs. The girl clenches her hands together, feeling the blood run out of her face.

"You have to understand, Kagome. This is more of a chance than they gave us...," Shippo starts, but the girl cuts him off.

"I...I know," she says, softly, glancing over to the still form of the hanyou again. She doesn't stop the tears that fill her eyes. "It's their decision. If Sesshomaru's attitude can change, then anyone's can. They can have their memories of youkai erased, and live normal lives. If they can't..."

Shippo thinks that Kagome wants to keep going, but she stops, biting her lip and quickly finishing off her cup of tea before pouring herself another from the small pot and downing that as well.

"Do you need something stronger?" Shippo asks, only half-joking as he eyes the girl's shaking hands.

Kagome doesn't respond, and the fox-demon gently pries the cup from her, setting it on the tray, and then the whole thing onto the floor before drawing the girl into his arms, kissing her hair.

"Like you said: 'It's their decision.' Don't feel bad for them Kags. They'll chose their own paths. Just as Inuyasha and I did."

The miko is quiet for a few moments before she suddenly leans away, something about the boy's tone not sitting well with her. She stares at the demon for several seconds, the truth slowly dawning on her as to what Shippo had just admitted.

"You...you knew? That something like this..."

Kagome can't finish this sentence either, and instead draws completely away from the fox, wrapping her arms around her body. Shippo rests one clawed hand against her cheek.

"Inuyasha knew. He's not as dumb as lets us believe," he says, giving the girl a smile when she looks up at him, the grin faltering when he sees the fear and pain showing in her dark eyes. Shippo keeps his tone neutral as he goes on. "He knew the reason for the cap you made him wear all the time. Well, the basic gist of it, I suppose. He told me before I was sealed; that I needed to make sure this is what I really wanted. You can see the results of that conversation."

The miko finds a small smile floating onto her face as the kitsune smirks at her, despite her shock at the statement. Shippo takes this as a good sign and continues on.

"He told Sesshomaru, also, though I don't think his brother believed him until it was actually happening. By that time, the _Hisashi no Shorai_ had too many people. There wasn't a way to find out how far their influence extended, so Sess spent the next century integrating himself into human society, according to Kilala. And not because he wanted to, either," Shippo says, shaking his head and sighing. "I'll tell you later," he adds, when Kagome gives him a frown. "He bided his time and gathered information. Sess knew that the group had to be taken out all at once. He kept in touch with certain youkai, who knew of others, et cetera. They knew of the group, and that he wouldn't call for them until it was time. Some of his other... er, associates, knew the locations of the satellite facilities or offices, while others had info on those who contributed funds or supplies, or simply time. A lot of the research didn't actually involve working with youkai. But he had to wait for you to find the main facility."

Shippo smirks again when Kagome gives him a wide-eyed stare. "For...me?" she asks, her mouth staying open in a silent '_o'._

"Yeah. The orb was made for you. Kilala's watched over it until about a decade ago, when she gave it to Sess. They only knew of an approximate time frame for when you were going to be born, though, and they had thought that Inuyasha would find his brother once you woke us up, but I guess he forgot," the fox says, glancing over to said hanyou, his grin fading. "We'll have to ask him when he finally wakes up," he mumbles, mostly to himself. The kitsune stares at his friend for several seconds before shaking his head and turning back to the miko. "We weren't supposed to be taken by them; Sess had planned on us helping take the group down, but that obviously didn't happen."

The fox pauses a moment to sigh, noticing in those few seconds that Kagome was starting to lose interest in the conversation, and was simply watching Inuyasha breathe again. Shippo had observed that she did that when she was feeling overwhelmed or particularly stressed, which was usually when she'd had visitors.

Shaking his head again--but this time at the obvious connection she and the hanyou still had, even when he was unconscious--the kitsune gets to his feet, patting the girl's head when she frowns at him.

"I think I've told you enough for the moment, Kags. Get some rest. I'll bring you dinner in a few hours."

Kagome nods, giving the demon a smile as he picks up the tray and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. She slowly lays down on her cot, keeping her eyes on the boy across from her until her lids finally drift close, and she dreams of an irate hanyou yelling at her for stealing his noodles.

**OoooOoooO**

"Want some, sis?"

Kagome fights back a sigh and takes the punch her brother was offering, sipping the fruity liquid and wishing for the first time that she had sake instead. Sota gives her quick hug before heading back over to Kajina, who was speaking to Kaji/Kilala, the birthday girl. Er...demon. The miko had figured out fairly quickly that the nekomata responded to either name, but her mother insisted on calling her by the former, most of the demons called her by the latter, and Sesshomaru didn't call her by either, preferring the endearing _wench_. The girl rolls her eyes and takes another sip from her plastic cup.

"Why don't you go back, hun? I can tell that your heart's still upstairs."

Kagome feels a blush crawling across her cheeks, but stays seated on the bench in the taiyoukai's indoor conservatory, where the feline's party was being held. Apparently Kilala had just turned 1000 years old, a number so high Kagome couldn't even comprehend it.

"I don't want to ruin your party, Kilala," she says, still trying to get used to the idea of actually being able to speak to the demon, and have her answer in return. Kagome gives the other woman a small smile when she sits beside her, her mother taking a position on her other side. Why did she suddenly feel surrounded? "Aren't you supposed to blow out the candles in a few minutes?"

The cat chuckles to herself, patting the miko on the back. "It's just one candle, Kagome. They can't make a cake big enough to hold that many. And this party is mostly to keep everyone's morale up, and say goodbye to the ones who've been staying here while they healed," she says, glancing around at the humans and demons that were injured during the attack or rescued from the facility, who had been at the demon-lord's estate for the past week and a half. Kilala snorts softly to herself as Kajina speaks to her daughter.

"Stay for the cake, then you can take a piece upstairs, dear. It's obvious that you aren't comfortable being around this many people right now."

Kagome turns to look at her mother, feeling tears prickle behind her eyes as they drift upwards, to the balcony running along the upper level of the conservatory and the door to Sesshomaru's study. She feels her mother lean forward and place a kiss against her brow.

"Okay," she says, softly, giving the two women a smile.

Ten minutes later, Kagome closes the wooden door behind her, setting the uneaten cake on a low table as she moves to stand over the unconscious half-demon.

"Won't you ever wake up?" she asks, her tears starting again as she stares at the immobile form before her, his chest rising and falling in a regular rhythm, but his body otherwise remaining still.

The girl bites her bottom lip when he doesn't respond, unable to contain the despair that hits her, even though she'd asked him the same question more than a dozen times already.

Quickly wiping the tears from her eyes, Kagome kneels beside the boy, gently running her fingers over his cheek, taking what comfort she can from the warmth of his skin. Unable to bear the utter lack of response, the girl leans forward and places a kiss against the same cheek, closing her eyes as she inhales the woodsy scent that always seemed to follow him.

She jerks her head up when his heart monitor beeps loudly.

"What?"

Unaware that's she's spoken out loud, the miko gets to her feet, glancing back at the boy a moment, not seeing any change in his condition. She steps over to the machine, poking at the green line that was jittering up and down, wondering if it was malfunctioning. Kagome feels all the hair on her neck stand up when she hears a moan from behind her.

The girl turns slowly, hardly daring to breathe as she moves back to face the boy, her heart in her throat. She just catches herself on the small table--knocking the plate with the cake to the floor--when she sees a pair of golden eyes focus on her, before being hidden behind his lids again.

"I...nu...ya...sha?"

When Inuyasha moans a second time, the miko bolts from the room, slamming open the doors and leaning over the railing so she can yell at the gathering below. The words get stuck in her throat, however, and she just ends up staring at the ones who have turned toward her, waving vaguely at the study before rushing back inside. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the girl's meaning.

Sesshomaru, Kilala, and Shippo arrive at the room mere seconds after Kagome, with Kajina and Sota about a minute after that, and Grampa Higurashi having to be helped up the stairs by the twin bodyguards.

When the older man finally arrives, he finds his granddaughter kneeling beside the boy, holding one of his hands, while a smile shines through the tears streaking her cheeks.

"He's awake."

* * *

See? Not as bad as the last chap. I kept my promise. Er...right? Now, what to say...? Oh, yes. Still have quite a few things to explain, but I'll get to those in the next chap, while Inu's recovering. Uh, sashimi is raw fish or other seafood, generally a first course, but can also be a main course. It's usually served with rice or miso soup (soy bean paste (soy beans, salt and kaji, or fermented rice, soy beans, or barley) in a dashi broth, which is made by boiling katsuobushi (a kind of tuna) or kelp). There are many variations, so I recommend checking out wikipedia or a Japanese food site if you want to know more than that, as I don't have enough room for it here. Oden is sort of a conglomerate of foods together in a dashi broth. Most of the time it's boiled eggs, daikon raddishes, fish cakes, and konnyaku (some type of weird tuber-like veggie), but there's also versions with shiitake mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, beef, octopus, tofu... Apparently it's like Japanese gumbo or jambalaya, neither of which I've had, b/c I'm picky like that. So don't yell at me. It was just to give you guys an idea. :P Er...what else? I know I've forgotten something, but I can't remember it right now, so maybe next time. Bye!


	16. Responses

Yay! New chap! Er...that's all. More talking at the end. :)

* * *

Kagome ascends the large circular stairway, glancing down at the tray in her hands, doing her best not to spill the contents. She stops abruptly at the next landing, when the crashing sound of breaking china floats along the hallway. A door several feet away flies open a moment later, releasing their taiyoukai host amid a swarm of muffled expletives. The girl cringes when she sees a decorative lamp fly through the door--aimed at Sesshomaru's head--though the demon catches the piece in one hand, without flinching, before turning to her.

"All yours," he says, somewhat shortly. Sesshomaru was less than thrilled with his brother's behavior over the past 24 hours, though he could hardly blame him. None of them could.

Inuyasha's awakening the day before had been a much-anticipated blessing, or so they thought. The hanyou had been unconscious for almost two weeks, though he had been healing the entire time, according to his doctor. Someone forgot to tell the boy's instincts, however.

The half-demon's first semi-lucid moment after waking--about a minute after Kagome's grandfather, Tsuyosa, and Tsuyoku entered the room--was just barely anticipated by Sesshomaru. The youkai had barked only one word--_out_--and his guards and Kilala had ushered the miko's family back onto the conservatory walkway, amid bewildered protests.

Kagome only had enough time to mumble, "Wha....?" before Shippo, who was the closest, grabbed the girl by both arms and jumped backwards across the room, pivoting so that she was behind him. She briefly saw a flash of claws, accompanied by a low growl, and then a wall of silver was obscuring her view of the hanyou.

The miko had stifled a gasp when Sesshomaru shifted his stance a moment later. His arms were slightly raised, hindering but not intimidating, keeping the half-demon blocked into the section of the study containing his cot.

_Inuyasha's...not...rational..._ Kagome had thought, her eyes watering as the brothers pace one another, the older keeping himself between the younger and everyone else. She heard a gasp from her mother and a whimper from her brother in the hall before someone closed the door.

"Little brother..."

Sesshomaru's attempts at calming the panicking boy didn't work, and actually seemed to make Inuyasha more confused than he already was.

The hanyou's golden, red-rimmed eyes were darting around the room, not really taking in any details, while his chest was heaving in and out quickly, as if he was hyperventilating. The lines on the boy's brow continued to grow deeper, and the grim set of his expression more irate and alarmed. His claws were extended--battle-ready--and he had already shredded his t-shirt, the sheets he had been lying under, and most of the medical equipment surrounding him, which had happened so fast that Kagome hadn't even noticed.

_He...doesn't understand... __Inuyasha's doesn't realize that there aren't any enemies here, and he's reacting on instinct..._

"Sesshomaru."

The taiyoukai had given the miko a very slight, sideways glance before slowly retreating from Inuyasha, though his posture didn't release it's tense atmosphere. The demon understood what was going to happen moments before it actually did, and would give Kagome her chance to reach his brother before he would have to resort to stronger measures. He would stay prepared to defend her or Shippo, if need be, however.

At the same time that she exchanged the comprehensive look with their host, Kagome saw the silver, horizontal triangles on Inuyasha's head swivel toward her and Shippo, his puzzled gaze following a second later. The girl wonders for a moment why his eyes narrow at the kitsune--who was still shielding her--before she sees things from Inuyasha's point-of-view.

The hanyou had only known the fox in his older form for a few months, and in his current state of mind, that recognition was not forthcoming. Shippo was a demon of approximately equal size and strength, who currently smelled far too much like his brother, whom Inuyasha had not parted with in exactly the best of ways. To his eyes, the red-haired youkai was a threat.

Until the human girl had stepped out from behind him, that is.

Kagome saw the hanyou's expression slacken as his golden orbs widen, and begin darting from her, to Shippo, to Sesshomaru, and back. His claws had dropped several inches, while the boy's posture almost seemed to fold in on itself.

"Inuyasha...," the miko said, softly, taking a few steps toward him, "...you're safe now. I promise. You're not..."

The girl doesn't finish her reassurances, as it seemed that the sight of her was all the half-demon needed to overload his fragile mentality. Kagome released a soft cry as Inuyasha collapsed, rushing forward only to be held back again by Shippo.

Luckily, the boy was close enough to his cot that he fell almost completely on it, with only his lower half hanging off. Sesshomaru had given the pair on the other side of the room a look that said they had better not move until he says they can, before inspecting the half-demon, pronouncing him unconscious again. Inuyasha had been standing for less than a minute.

The small group outside had then been allowed back, but there was nothing else to see. Each of them slowly returned to the nekomata's party, though no one felt much like celebrating anymore, until a few hours later, when Inuyasha awoke again.

This time he was slightly more hospitable, snapping instantly to attention but relaxing just as quickly, if not completely. Not that he had a choice. But he still didn't trust what his eyes and nose and spectators were telling him, and kept glaring at everyone in the room as if he would personably disembowel them as soon as he could move normally.

Everyone, with the exception of Kagome. Whom he almost seemed to believe was a figment of his imagination, if his disbelieving expression was anything to go by.

The second time he woke, Inuyasha stayed conscious only 5 minutes or so before slipping out again, and didn't speak a word to anyone. He also didn't offer his visitors a single word any of the half-dozen times after that, either, though his periods of alertness got progressively longer. It wouldn't be until late the next evening that the boy felt assured enough to talk, and then most of the group would wish he was still unconscious.

Kagome sighs, walking towards the taiyoukai and taking the lamp from him. "Still angry, I see," she says wearily, looking toward the open door, where quiet muttering is floating through to the hallway. She glances up at the sutra on the frame's crossbeam before turning back to the demon. They weren't taking any chances.

Sesshomaru nods once, then steps aside so that Kagome can pass, eyeing the meal on the tray with disinterest. "He is less than thrilled about his circumstances, especially given that he cannot escape," the youkai says, following the girl's line of sight of a moment before, even if the small piece of paper was only precautionary. "Reasoning will not work...," Sesshomaru ignores the quiet scoff the girl makes, though the right side of his mouth tics a bit, "...but perhaps sustenance will."

"I doubt it," Kagome mumbles, rolling her eyes. "Even seeing Tetsusaiga didn't calm him that much. Though that was probably because you were holding it."

The pair stands in semi-awkward silence after that statement, neither quite sure if it was an insult, before Kagome takes a deep breath and steps toward the door, steeling herself for the onslaught. Sesshomaru watches her back as she enters the room, speaking just before he closes the door after her.

"The neko and I must speak with you concerning....a matter," he says, not giving the miko enough time to respond before she turns, finding herself with a wall of wood in her face.

_What the....?_

Kagome backs up, frowning at the door, wondering why the demon had waited until the last possible second to tell her about this. So that she couldn't refuse? Not that that was a possibility, considering the source...

The girl rolls her eyes again--this time with more irritation--before turning to the perpetual motor laying on his bed on the far side of the room, glaring at her, what looks like an expensive vase in one hand.

"I'm pretty sure that everything in here is worth more than mom's car, Inuyasha," she says mildly, setting the tray of food on a low table before moving to replace the lamp on another. "Breaking your brother's things isn't a nice way of saying, 'thank you'."

The hanyou's gaze narrows on the girl as she moves back to the tray, the vase in his hand sliding out and off the bed with a dull _thunk_ on the rug-covered floor.

"Leave," he says, snapping only a little. He then turns away, assuming that the girl will listen.

Not likely.

Kagome stands silently with the food for several seconds, keeping her expression neutral, until the hanyou turns to her again, this time with a faint snarl on his lips. She only blinks at him bemusedly when he sends yet another growl her way.

"You haven't eaten since you woke up. And since you seem to have forgotten basic manners, I was elected to bring you food and talk some civility back into you," the girl says, moving to the side of the bed. She ignores her misgivings and the fangs bared at her, and sits down beside the half-demon, placing the tray on her lap and offering the boy a small smile.

Inuyasha continues to glare at the miko and her hopeful expression for another minute or so, then turns away with a huff and a muted expletive, watching the sunset through one of the large windows in his room. Kagome doesn't respond to his attitude, but only sets the tray on the floor, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around them. She watches the hanyou for several more moments, then lets her gaze travel around the room. He would talk when he was ready. And she would wait until he was.

The room Sesshomaru had moved Inuyasha to was roughly the same size as the one she and her mother shared, which she took to be the standard of the taiyoukai's mansion. Both of the rooms were approximately 45 feet squared, making them only slightly smaller than the whole downstairs of the Shrine. Everything in Inuyasha's room was colored shades of deep grey and pale green, while hers was a light, unobtrusive orange and lavendar. The rooms were sparsely furnished, containing only a large bed, a dresser, a comfy chair, and two matching tables. Each item varied in its style, depending on the room, and were accompanied by no more than half-a-dozen vases, bowls, lamps, paintings, or some other smallish item per room. Each also had its own bathroom.

When the room offers nothing more to hold her attention, Kagome lets her eyes slide back to the hanyou, but finds him still moping silently. He couldn't move enough to get away from her, and as not talking seemed to be his only defense at the moment, he was employing it heartily.

The girl makes a face at the back of his head, then replays the conversation she'd had at breakfast in her own. It had explained alot.

**OoooO**

Kagome had woken and gotten dressed, before heading downstairs to eat, avoiding Inuyasha for the moment, per Sesshomaru's instructions to them the night before. Though she wasn't happy about it.

The taiyoukai didn't want his brother's current attitude to alter her family's perception of the half-demon, so he had _suggested_ to her mother that she, Sota, and Gramps steer clear of him for a few days, until his energy had returned and he could act like his old self. This idea was helped by the fact that her brother was now repeating a word that Kajina was not exactly thrilled with, and Kagome's grandfather was narrow-eyeing all the demons in the mansion, having taken to muttering incantations under his breath when he thought no one was listening.

Inuyasha hadn't met the twin bodyguards or Kilala in her new form before being taken, so he had no reason to trust or speak with them until he was moving normally again, though the sight of the feline left him momentarily speechless. However, the neko got an earful when she tried to hug the boy, which resulted in him getting smacked lightly upside the head and her leaving the estate.

Kagome and Shippo could visit him if they wished, but only after Sesshomaru had spoken to his brother, privately. Which ended up taking almost all day. This actually ended up working out nicely during the morning, as the kitsune was explaining things to her brother about the _Hisashi no Shorai_ over breakfast when the miko entered the room.

"So...the darts were short-acting?"

"Yes," the fox answers, giving Kagome a nod and a smile when she rounds the doorway and enters Sesshomaru's spacious kitchen, stifling a yawn. "One minute I was looking at those men, and the next I was staring at the hazy steps of the Shrine. Then I felt another stab, and when I opened my eyes, Inuyasha was laying beside me, inside a vehicle, and some of those band-things were around his wrists and ankles. They stuck something in his mouth, then they were doing the same thing to me. The next time I woke up, I was in...the facility."

The miko nods absently to herself, frowning, as she fixes a bowl of cereal, adding some slices of banana on top. Sesshomaru had told them that the group didn't have any weapons that would work instantly against stronger demons, so she had wondered how Inuyasha and Shippo had been taken in the first place. A dart that could incapacitate a youkai for even a few minutes would have given the _Hisashi no Shorai_ just enough time to bind them with something more permanent. That, and the fact that the two demons had been caught off-guard, and were hit with about a dozen darts each, were probably the only reasons that they had been taken at all.

"What happened while you were there? What did they do to you?" Sota asks, softly. It was clear from his expression that the boy was apprehensive about Shippo's answer.

Kagome turns to her brother, giving him a half-horrified, half-respectful stare. The girl herself had been curious about the same, but couldn't decide if she truly wished to know or not. It would kill her to find out what had happened to the two demons, but, at the same time, it might also help the pair to talk about the reality of their holding over the past few weeks. And it might help her to understand any lasting changes in them. Shippo only seemed to be weary, of a sort, but Inuyasha...well, he would be a different matter entirely, if his past was anything to go by.

"Do you really want to know, Sota?" the kitsune asks, between bites of his oatmeal. "It's not something for the faint-of-heart."

The younger boy exchanges a worried glance with his sister before nodding, slowly, a large lump in his throat. Shippo eyes him for a few moments before shrugging, taking a swallow of his orange juice, following it with a sigh. He gives Kagome a grim smile when she sits down beside him, squeezing one of his hands.

"Sess told you that they did research, yes?" he asks, his next words coming out in a slight growl. "Well, that's basically it. They were looking for ways to slow or debilitate higher demons, or kill them outright. But as Kagome knows, it's very difficult to kill a fully-grown youkai... Well, unless you're a miko."

The fox stops for a moment, leaning back in his chair and scratching one of his temples, a smirk on his face. Kagome scoffs.

"So, they tested us. Sounds, smells--though they hadn't gotten far enough with those yet to see the effect of some things, thank kami. Remember the ink?"

The girl nods at the demon, thinking back to the times that Inuyasha had been knocked out. Apparently luck was on their side with that aspect, at least.

"The 'treatments' seemed to get worse, the longer we were there. They would put a cloth in some kind of liquid and let it sit on our eyes, or force something into our mouths. Most of the time it burned like hell, but didn't do any permanent damage."

Shippo stops here, frowning to himself as he remembers something. He lets his gaze slide toward the ceiling, but quickly shakes his head, continuing on. Kagome and Sota exchange a worried look, but don't say anything about the pause.

"Then they started the real torture. Demons may be able to withstand more damage than humans, but that doesn't mean that it's not painful," the fox says, a shadow crossing his face. Until now he seemed to be slightly indifferent, but now there was a definite ire to his expression. "They...poured some kind of liquid on our skin. It only felt cool at first, but then...it seemed to... melt..."

Shippo growls, keeping his eyes down when he hears Kagome gasp. "Then they had some kind of large lighters. Took over a day to heal from those burns; I don't think it was a regular flame. And then clubs...and knives. Serrations. Spikes. And they broke my wrist at one point," he says, lifting his left arm and turning the appendage over, not really looking at it. "It was a fluke when they let us go that day, though. Inuyasha was yelling at this woman, and someone in the next room--others would watch us from behind orange glass--spoke over the radio. There was a high-pitched noise, and then I was screaming. Ruptured my eardrum. Any idea of how much that hurts?"

The kitsune smirks--sadly--at the siblings when they shake their heads, tears now sliding down Kagome's cheeks. Sota looked like he was about to throw up.

"Not much more than that, really. Oh. If we didn't cooperate, they would shock us with the collars. Like...controlled lightening," the fox says, shrugging half-heartedly at the sibling's identically timed gasps and drumming the fingers of one hand against his glass. "They didn't always take us together, and we didn't always have the same things done to us. They knew that we weren't the same kind of demon, but we wouldn't tell them that I was a kitsune. Inuyasha didn't want them to know I could do magic, because then they would have new ways to torment me. He was kind of easy to figure out, though. Obviously."

"They...they didn't find out you're a fox-demon?" the miko whispers, retrieving a napkin to wipe her eyes. Shippo shakes his head.

"No. Inuyasha...he figured out that they were watching us while we were in our 'rooms.' Said it was just a feeling, at first, but then some of the...white-coated people mentioned things that they wouldn't have known unless they were listening to us." The demon continues to elaborate when the sister and brother give him frowns. "They said they knew about Tetsusaiga, and my magic. Inuyasha and I were together then, so we were able to come up with excuses. The sword was his Swiss army knife, and the magic was my ability to pick locks."

Shippo nods when he gets a pair of disbelieving looks. The two demons had only known about these things because Sota liked to watch a t.v. program in which the main character was constantly having to break into and out-of highly secured areas. A good thing, apparently.

"They believed us. Barely. But we didn't mention either again while we were in our...cells, and the people finally stopped focusing on them." The fox sighs, then puts his head in his hands. "But then they started asking about you, Kagome."

"Me?" the girl repeats, giving the youkai an alarmed look. Then she remembers that she had come extremely close to being kidnapped herself, and mutters a soft _Oh_.

"'Oh' ? What do you mean, 'oh' ?" the fox asks, giving his friend a narrow glance. Kagome feels her cheeks getting warm.

"The night we...came for you, they almost got me. I was in their van before Kilala stopped them," the girl says, somewhat abashed, though she didn't really know why.

Shippo chokes on the juice he'd been in the process of swallowing, his eyes goggling. His surprise quickly changes to anger, though, and the youkai stands abruptly from his chair.

"I'm gonna kill Sesshomaru," he says with a growl, heading for the door. He makes it all the way to the bottom of the large staircase before Kagome and Sota catch him.

"Don't be crazy, Shippo! Besides, everyone's fine now," the girl virtually shouts, grabbing onto the fox's arm and trying to drag him back to the kitchen while Sota helps from the other side. It takes both of them to even keep him in place.

"He almost let you get taken, Kagome," the boy growls, dragging the duo up the bottom two steps, only struggling a little. "What if you actually had? I can't simply let that go. And why didn't you tell me before now?" he abruptly asks, turning around. The miko is so startled at the change in Shippo's position that she almost falls off the stairs.

"I...uh...," she stammers, searching for an answer. The impatient demon gives her a look so reminiscent of Inuyasha, crossing his arms, that she suddenly finds a sense of irritation coming over her. "I didn't mention it, because there was nothing to tell," she snaps, earning a raised brow from the fox. "The twins were at the Shrine, and I'm almost positive that Sesshomaru had others watching my family as well. Probably the only reason they were able to touch me was because I left the grounds. And then Kilala was there. They had me in their possession for two minutes, tops."

Shippo squints at the girl, then turns and gives Sota a similar glance, silently asking if he should believe the miko. The younger boy nods.

"Sess wouldn't have let anything happen to us, Shippo. Ani would hurt him a lot if he did," the boy says, purposely ignoring the blush on his sister's face. "It was Kagome's fault for leaving the house."

The girl turns a glare on her brother for a moment, before looking back to the somewhat mollified demon. "He might not exactly love humans, but Sesshomaru isn't going to do anything to put us in danger. He wouldn't even kill the technicians at the facility," she adds, now reflecting quietly, mostly to herself. "Rin must have had more of an effect on him than we realized."

Shippo pushes out his lower lip in a pout, then finally shrugs and heads back to the kitchen. "Possibly," he replies, and Kagome thinks the fox's statement sounds somewhat cryptic, but she doesn't understand why she would think that. The thought gets pushed aside they return to their seats and the kitsune continues his explanations.

The siblings find out that the doors and bars of the demon's 'rooms,' and bindings in the van and on the tables were made of some type of titanium-steel hybrid. An added element of silver and a remote electrode in their 'collars' explained how they could shock a youkai if they didn't cooperate. The bindings and collars also had clasps that closed magnetically, which added to the difficulty in removing them. Fortunately, one of the demons in Sesshomaru's attack force was a physicist, while another was an engineer, and they were able to figure out how to remove the restraints in no time.

Shippo then tells them that the reason the _Hisashi no Shorai_ came after Kagome was that he and Inuyasha were not being forthcoming as to why the hanyou's beads could not be removed, or how they had supposedly been pinned to a tree for over 500 years. Many of the experiments had been noticeably worse because of their lack of cooperation, and even when the other was threatened with 'extreme measures,' they wouldn't give in. The heads of the facility then decided that using Kagome as leverage would be a wise decision, if they couldn't get the answers out of the girl herself.

The miko--after hearing this--had retreated to her room for the rest of the morning. She wouldn't admit it to the kitsune, but his words had left her shaken. She knew that there was little-to-no chance that she would have actually gotten taken, but still, there was a _possibility_. It was like seeing an accident happen right in front of you; it always left you wondering: what if?

Kagome had kept mostly to herself the rest of the day, sometimes reading a book she had borrowed from their host's library, but mostly wandering the house, in order to pass by Inuyasha's room, to see if Sesshomaru had left yet. She always heard either muffled shouts or civilized speech, depending on who was talking.

The girl's mother finally coerced her into helping pick vegetables from the taiyoukai's garden, which would help out the cook whenever she returned from the mainland, where she was visiting her cousin, since Kajina had more-or-less taken over all the cooking. The girl then stayed on in the kitchen and assisted with dinner, which she actually enjoyed. It had been too long since she had spent quality time with her mother.

Finally, Kajina decided that their half-demon had gone entirely too long without a proper meal, and sent Kagome upstairs with sustenance, telling her daughter to send the demon-lord to her if he had any complaints. The miko decided she wanted to video-tape that encounter, and was slightly disappointed to see Sesshomaru emerging from Inuyasha's room. The lamp had come close to making up for that.

If only it had connected.

**OoooO**

Kagome stifles that image with a quiet giggle, rearranging her hands over her ribs, as she had laid down on the bed some time ago. Inuyasha was still sulking, but from the way his stomach had been growling over the past several minutes, the girl knew she would only have to wait a little longer before he would speak. Shippo had also mentioned what the two of them had been fed, and there was no way the hanyou would be turning down her mother's cooking. It was hard to do that on a full stomach.

"So...you were 'elected'?" the boy finally mumbles. Kagome can see his pout from five feet away. "No one else wanted to come in?"

The girl can't help her reaction, and starts laughing, having to hold her sides so that she can breathe. When she finally glances up the boy, his ears are flat to his head, and he looks both extremely embarrassed and even more pissed-off, if that was possible. His growl was helping out a lot with that.

Kagome sits up slowly, bringing one hand to the hanyou's face, redirecting it at the last moment and playing with one of his forelocks instead, her cheeks pinking when he doesn't pull away. "You don't really believe that, do you, Inuyasha?" she asks, taking his frown as evidence that he did, and sighing as a result. "You had a room full of people every time you've woke up, except today, and if it wasn't for your attitude, they would all be in here right now. Plus, momma doesn't want Sota repeating any more of your..._choice_ words."

Inuyasha actually blushes at this statement, and looks away, huffing slightly. Kagome listens to him mumble to himself for a few seconds before his stomach protests again, and she takes the initiative, retrieving the tray and setting it on her lap, adjusting her position so that she's closer to the boy. Both she and her mother had anticipated that the half-demon wouldn't eat right away, and had heated the meal to much higher than was palatable, while also putting it in a warming dish. Therefore, it was still warm now.

The boy turns after a minute or so and eyes the food, dragging his gaze up to the girl's before dropping it again. He finally sighs, then snorts loudly to cover the previous sound.

"No one else, alright? Only you," he snaps, staring pointedly at the bowl in the girl's lap. Kagome puts on a serious frown to cover her grin, then lifts the lid off the bowl and dips the spoon into the broth, testing it to make sure it had actually cooled enough before offering it to the hanyou. Inuyasha glares at the soup for a split second before opening his mouth.

"I hate this," he mutters after several mouthfuls. "I could do it myself, but I wouldn't be able to eat more than two bites at a time. And I wouldn't have the energy to piss when I need to." The boy looks away with rosy cheeks when the miko glares at him.

"I know," she says after a moment, offering him more of his dinner and squashing her reprimand. "What?" she asks, when the hanyou just stares at her.

"What does that mean?" Inuyasha asks, refusing the next spoonful. The girl's statement didn't make any sense.

Kagome frowns, not understanding Inuyasha's confusion. "What do you mean, 'what' ? I meant that I know what you mean; I was in this same position a few weeks ago. Didn't Sesshomaru tell you?"

The girl finds her scowl deepening when Inuyasha begins growling, his gaze aimed at the door. "No, he didn't. We...were talking about other things...," he says, breaking off and not offering anything more.

"What things? And why didn't he tell you what happened during the attack? My heart stopped and I was knocked unconscious when I used my miko powers to revive you, and..."

"You what?!" Inuyasha yells, immediately regretting his outburst. He cringes in place for a second, trying to control the pain, his breathing heavy. After several moments he finally recovers and turns to the girl with a heated glare. "You _what?_" he asks, more calmly this time, but with a deep anger still simmering behind his eyes.

"Um...," Kagome begins intelligently, worried about discussing the attack with a sick, and now ticked-off, hanyou. It wouldn't be conducive to his getting any better. And why hadn't the demon-lord mentioned any of this to Inuyasha? "...what exactly did he tell you? Surely Sesshomaru said _something_ about our assault...?"

Inuyasha continues to silently glare at the miko, then eventually speaks, over a growl. "He said that you used that....orb-thingy that Miroku and Kikyo made to find me and the runt. It boosted your powers somehow. That's the only part he said you had in this mess."

Kagome feels her eyes about to pop out of their sockets at the amount of information that had been left unsaid to the half-demon. Then she feels the anger welling up inside her, that, for some reason, Sesshomaru hadn't thought it necessary to inform Inuyasha of her role. Maybe because he felt she needed to do it? Possibly...but still...

Inuyasha watches the girl with narrowed eyes, as her hand begins shaking from the level of anger she was trying to contain. The girl spills a little of the soup, but doesn't lose control of her powers, thankfully. The boy had had enough drama for one day. And he also didn't have the energy to avoid an upset miko.

"You can explain later," he says, cautiously, glad that Kagome relaxes a few seconds later. "Right now I just wanna finish eating so I can get my strength back."

The girl lifts her eyes, locking them onto the boy's, and nods. An understanding passes between them.

Sesshomaru would suffer in the morning.

* * *

Ok? And Sess isn't really going to suffer. Much. Er...what else? Hrmm... Oh, I was gonna have some actual fluff since I've...well, not had any in a while, but this chap is already way too long. But at least I explained a lot, yes? Right? Gotta get that out sometime... I'll try to get back to this fic soon. Didn't realize it had been so long. *ducks as a pair of scissors flies overhead* Hey now! At least I'm trying! XP I only have finals and then I'm on break for awhile (yay!), so we'll see if I can get stuff done....


	17. Complications

Ok, people! Don't get too excited by the first part of this. I'm adding fluff in, b/c of the lack of it recently, but the beginning isn't what it sounds like! I'd be getting way ahead of myself if it was, and I'm trying not to do that until it's reasonable, if at all. That said, enjoy! *follows this statement with an evil laugh* Hope I don't confuse anybody... Oh, I changed a bit of #16, b/c it was pointed out to me that it was somewhat confusing. But it's still basically the same, so there's no point in re-reading it if you already have. Just if I lost you somewhere...

_

* * *

__She woke up in a cold sweat. _

_A quick glance around told her that she wasn't in her own bed, but was still in the boy's, at his brother's mansion. The half-demon was now also awake, but his recent lack of sleep was due to her abrupt change in position. _

"_Kagome?"_

_The girl shakes her head, pulling her knees up and resting her forhead against them. "I'll...be fine. Just...a bad dream..." _

"_Are you sure?" he asks, his tone telling her that he was unconvinced._

_Kagome sighs, releasing a tensed breath, before turning to him, nodding. "Yes. I just need a...."_

_She instantly stops, her eyes widening at the boy's appearance. His silver locks now included another color: a sort of bluish-gray, that made his hair looked ghostly in the darkness of the room. His honeyed eyes were slowly morphing to a deep purple-black, while a smug grin begins forming beneath them, and the visible skin of his face and hands loses it's healthy tan and turns a sickly shade of white. _

"_Need what...?" the boy asks, a harshly intoned chuckle making it's way from between his lips as he sits up, grabbing her arm. _

_Kagome stares in horror as Inuyasha's claws sink into her skin, her muscle, possibly down to her very bones, though she felt no pain. When the hanyou leans toward her, his fangs black with venom, the girl's sense of self-preservation finally kicks in, and she screams bloody murder..._

The miko sits up so quickly that the pillow she had been clutching fearfully to her chest during the dream goes flying across the room. She isn't aware that she's both sobbing and shouting, until the pair of demons bursts through her door seconds later, panic on their faces.

"Kagome?"

"Kagome?!"

The girl grabs the first boy who gets close enough, holding on tightly to his t-shirt as she struggles to control her hysterics.

"Was it the dream again?" Inuyasha half-growls, hoping he's wrong. He exchanges a worried glance with the fox over the top of the girl's head when she nods, then eyes the way Kagome is clinging to Shippo with a frown. This dream was worse than the first.

"What happened?" Shippo asks, somehow managing to pry the girl away from his person and forcing her to look at him. Kagome's dark eyes immediately begin watering again, and she glances to the hanyou still standing beside them.

"In... Inu...yasha... You...you...had been..._changed_...," the girl says, tears falling freely down her cheeks now. "You were... like _her._"

The half-demon finds his frown turning into a definite snarl, though without the sound. He glances to the kitsune, and sees the other boy giving him an identical expression.

"Dinner is...tomorrow night?" the red-head confirms, looking at the bedside clock, then glancing between Inuyasha and Kagome when they both nod. The miko takes a deep breath, steadying herself.

"I...should be okay til then. The first one was over a month ago."

Inuyasha growls, hesitating a moment before sitting on the other side of the girl. "That bastard better have answers. He knew what was going to happen before we even mentioned the first dream."

"Yes, but we have to wait for both of them," Kagome says, responding to the hanyou's unspoken statement. "We didn't know it was going to take so long. This is the first time they've both been in the city at the same time since we finally told him."

"And I'm sure that they wouldn't put either of you in danger," Shippo adds, in response to Inuyasha's glare. "It's not anything that will happen soon. We have time."

The half-demon snorts, irritated and impatient, despite the reassurances. He didn't like waiting. Especially now, when Kagome was hurting, and they were both in probable danger. Not to mention the rest of Tokyo.

"Do...?"

The boy doesn't even get his question started before Kagome interrupts. But from the way her cheeks were coloring, he was sure that she knew what he was going to ask. Or, at least she thought she did.

"Go back to bed, guys. I'll be fine. I promise," the young miko says, making a vague shooing gesture at the two demons in her room. Shippo and Inuyasha exchange worried frowns.

"You're sure?" the fox asks, slowly standing from the girl's bed and taking a hesitant step towards the open door. He sighs when Kagome nods. "Alright. But remember: I'm right next door if you need anything."

Kagome gives the kitsune a small smile as he leaves her room, before turning her gaze on Inuyasha. Neither of the pair says anything, and the hanyou reluctantly leaves a moment later, growling lightly as he closes the door.

The miko finally releases the breath she'd been holding, then puts her head in her hands. The dream had left her far too shaken to go back to sleep immediately, if at all, tonight. And it was barely 2 a.m. She kept seeing Inuyasha transformed, which just made her more and more afraid to close her eyes. Maybe a cup of tea would help calm her nerves...

Kagome waits several minutes until she hears even breaths coming from her brother and Shippo's room, signaling the dream-state of the kitsune. Sota was staying overnight with a school friend, and her mother was in Osaka, and would be returning with Kilala the next day, so it was just her, the boys, and her Gramps tonight.

The girl quietly makes her way down the stairs, tiptoeing so that she makes as little noise as possible. Loud snoring can be heard coming from her grandfather's room, and his ability to sleep through her shouting makes her smile as she enters the kitchen and turns on the light, blinking at the sudden intrusion. She hopes that Inuyasha has already fallen back asleep, but doesn't want to risk waking him by peering into his room if he had. That would just be asking for a repeat of what had happened at Sesshomaru's mansion.

Kagome feels her cheeks warming again, and quickly moves to the refridgerator, retrieving the container of tea and pouring herself a full cup before popping it into the microwave. Neither she nor Inuyasha had spoken about that night since they had returned to the Shrine. And only one other person knew about it.

**OoooO**

The hanyou had finally finished his dinner--reluctant the entire time--though he had somehow managed to eat it all. Not surprising since he hadn't had an actual meal in a fortnight, and not a proper one for almost a month and a half.

The miko had then left the room to retrieve his dessert, not sure if he would be up for the strawberry mochi until she asked. Silly question. She should have known better.

However, when Kagome returned to the boy's room, she couldn't immediately find the half-demon. He wasn't in his bed, and a quick glance in the bathroom told her he wasn't there either. As he couldn't leave the room because of the sutra over the door, he had to be in there somewhere.

She finally found Inuyasha sitting on the floor, half-wedged between a nightstand and his bed, his coverlet partially draped over his head. She thought for a moment that he was crying--which made her heart drop into her stomach--but the boy was just having difficulty breathing. Or so she thought.

"Inuyasha? You alright?"

The hanyou shifts his eyes to the girl kneeling beside him, then back, not responding. He feels her remove the covers from his head, then settle on the floor, the ice cream forgotten on her other side.

Kagome doesn't say anything more, deciding that her own silence will eventually break the boy's, and she'll get a response. It had already worked once, so why not again? Instead, she lays her head against the mattress and rests her eyes. It takes the girl several minutes to notice the difference.

The miko frowns to herself, resisting the urge to actually raise her head and look around. After several moments she sneaks a glance at the half-demon to confirm it, an abnormal worry settling over her. She expected Inuyasha to look uncomfortable, and slightly angry, and he was. After all, he didn't have the strength to get back onto the bed, and was obviously irritated about it. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary about that. Still, it slowly dawns on Kagome that Inuyasha also looks...upset?

"Inuyasha?" the girl whispers again, suddenly alarmed. There was something about the way he was staring at the hardwood...

Before she can utter a response, the miko finds herself in the boy's lap, his arms tight around her. Now she can feel him trembling.

"Inu...?"

"Just...stay with me...tonight...please...," he whispers, mostly to her hair. Kagome feels her skin rise as his words float across the back of her neck, but isn't sure if it's because of his request, or his warmth. Or both.

The girl takes several deep breaths before nodding, mumbling something about pajamas. She didn't know why she was agreeing, just that Inuyasha needed her. And if this was how, then she would do it.

**OoooO**

Kagome rubs her temples, jumping as the microwave _beeps_ at her. She retrieves the mug, setting it on the counter and staring unseeingly at the steam rising from the heated liquid.

Nothing else had happened that evening. Until the dream, that is.

The miko had returned the uneaten dessert to the kitchen before stopping by Sesshomaru's den, which took up half of the first floor. She and her mother shared a room, and there was no way she was sleeping somewhere different without Kajina finding out about it, so the girl opted for telling her mother the truth up front.

Thankfully, Kagome lucked out, and Kajina just so happened to be the only one in the room when she entered. Mrs. Higurashi had only given her daughter a slight frown before nodding, bestowing her eldest child with a kiss on her cheek and telling her to pass another on to Inuyasha.

Kagome didn't actually get to do that, because after getting ready for bed and making sure no one saw her enter the half-demon's room, Inuyasha was almost gone. The girl had stood by the side of the bed, watching him silently for several minutes, before switching off the lamp and getting under the covers, her heart thumping in her chest.

Inuyasha's eyes had flickered open for a brief moment, he had found one of her hands with his own, and then drifted off without saying a word. He did squeeze her fingers, though.

Kagome places her hands around her drink, lifting it to her lips and taking a sip. She feels the liquid flow down her throat, warming her from the inside, but not helping with her anxiety over the dream. Or vision, according to Sesshomaru.

The first had actually occurred the same night Inuyasha had asked her to stay. Kagome had been standing, and turning, confused, because she didn't know where she was. A light marked the spot where her feet met the bare floor, but otherwise there was no sign to indicate where she might be. She had heard the screech first.

Well, Kagome classified it as such, because she didn't know what else to call it. It seemed to be a cross between the sound a parrot makes, and a hiss, and a soft roar. The echo had bounded around her several times, making Kagome cover her ears at the deafening loudness, though she still wasn't truly afraid. That came next.

The miko feels the tears start as she remembers the creature that appeared out of the darkness surrounding her. It was a female, and it looked the same as Inuyasha had in the dream she'd had less than an hour ago. The same white skin, blue-grey hair, nails like talons, fangs coated with what Kagome is positive is some kind of venom...

The girl suddenly shakes her head, willing the vision from her mind's eye. There was nothing she could about it at the moment; not until she went to dinner tomorrow night, at least. The most she could do was convince herself that it was _only_ a dream, and try to keep a positive attitude that they would find this...creature, before it could do any harm.

Kagome chuckles darkly to herself. Even tricking Sesshomaru the next morning hadn't improved her mood much that day. She had reversed the sutra's effect so that the taiyoukai couldn't gain access to Inuyasha's room, which the hanyou thought was perfect payback for keeping him in the dark.

Sesshomaru hadn't agreed. Especially when Kagome's spell proved powerful enough to actually repel the demon, instead of just preventing him from entering the room.

The girl allows herself a grim smile at that, but the memory only brightens her mood for a brief moment before she again lapses into barely suppressed anxiety and dread. It hadn't taken her long to connect the visions with the orb she had swallowed. The _Sphere of Nightmares _may have given her a power boost, but that wasn't it's only effect. Unfortunately for her.

A slight creaking by the doorway catches the girl's attention, and it takes her a moment to realize that she can't properly see the hanyou for all the tears; only a silver blur. Kagome wipes the sleeve of her robe across her eyes, trying to hide her sniffles behind it as well.

It was only a vague attempt, though, so the girl isn't really surprised when she hears a low growl floating across the kitchen toward her. Nor is she more than just slightly startled when she finds herself in a strong embrace. She _is_ shocked to find that she was the one who moved, however.

"She won't touch you, Kagome. I promise," the boy says, his voice a rumbling calm in her ear.

The miko wants to say that she's now more afraid for him than for herself, but she can't force the words past the thickness in her throat. Instead, she buries her face against his tee, wraps her arms around his waist, and sobs into his chest.

Inuyasha continues to hold the girl until she seems to calm, then gently helps her to back to her room.

Neither one notices that he doesn't leave.

**OoooOoooO**

"Hey sis...you almost ready? Mom says the car will be here any minute, and Inuyasha's already downstairs."

Kagome sends a glare to her brother via her vanity mirror, hoping he doesn't notice her blush. "His room is downstairs, Sota. Of course he's already there."

The younger Higurashi sticks his tongue out at the back of his sister's head, forgetting that she can see him perfectly well, just as he can see the reddish tint to her cheeks. Well, it _was_ warmer upstairs than down.... "I'm just telling you what mom told me to tell you. You should be finished getting ready by now."

The miko sighs as her brother disappears back into the hallway, then grins to herself, then sighs again. She would have to tell Shippo to hit the younger boy a few times for her while the two of them were paintballing tonight. It was only fair, really. She and Inuyasha were going to dinner so they could finally find out what the visions meant, and what they would do about them. Though the topic would be less than pleasant, it would be nice to get out for a change.

Shippo and Inuyasha had been cramming as much schoolwork as they could into each day, from the moment they got back to the Shrine. Both Kajina and Kagome had been teaching, though each did different subjects. Since the boys could stay awake for longer periods than the miko and her mother, it worked out rather well. The girl had made a half-hearted attempt to dissuade them, at first, because of their..._ordeal_, but Shippo didn't give her even a second before he started protesting. The kitsune wasn't the issue, though.

The miko had always thought that Miroku was the smartest person she had ever known. Despite his baser (read: _lecherous_) tendencies, the monk almost always seemed to realize the truth before any of the rest of the group, and could often deduce the wisest course of action. She had no doubt that he would have excelled in her time, if he had had the chance. However, the young kitsune, if his schoolwork was anything to go by, might soon replace him as most intelligent.

Inuyasha was a different story.

The hanyou was intensely curious, and extremely hardworking, once he put his mind to something. No one could argue that. But his short temper and the speed with which he became frustrated often blocked his ability to understand certain concepts.

While Shippo was nearly up to the grade level he would be starting in a little more than a month--and was already working at a college level in some subjects--Inuyasha would probably start the year while he still wasn't fully prepared. It didn't help his attitude any that the kitsune had not been in a semi-coma like he had, and had used a lot of his free time at Sesshomaru's to get ahead. The hanyou did take small comfort in the fact that he understood some things much better than Kagome did, however.

"Hey... You know Sesshomaru won't be in the best of moods if we're late. Not that I really care."

Kagome glances up from where she had been applying her lipstick, momentarily catching the boy's eyes, then his smirk. She feels her face heating again.

"I just need to put on my shoes," the girl replies, softly, finishing her makeup, frowning quickly at herself and sighing, then standing from the chair.

Kagome keeps her eyes on the floor, but manages a small grin when she hears a snort and the unmistakable sound of someone shifting on their feet. She hadn't been able to look at the hanyou for days after leaving his brother's, and since the other night, she hadn't been able to meet his eyes at all. Of course, he seemed to be having the same problem, but neither one had tried to talk to the other. Typical.

_Tonight should be interesting..._ the girl thinks, sitting on her bed and sliding one heel onto her foot, pulling the strap across her ankle. Kagome idly wonders when the last time she had dressed up so much was, when a sudden depression in the bed beside her tells the girl that Inuyasha has sat down. The miko tries to do something about burning sensation on her neck.

"Look at me, Kagome."

Said girl reluctantly finds her eyes lifting at the tone in his voice. His statement wasn't a suggestion.

"Are you...angry about what happened the other night?" the hanyou asks. The boy's expression is set in a frown, his eyes dark, and the girl suddenly feels that he will drop the discussion--permanently, willingly, though he'd also be completely reluctant about it--if she responds with nod. However, Kagome shakes her head in the negative.

"No," she answers, watching the boy release a slow sigh in relief, and finding herself also relaxing. "I just... I don't know what to think. Some... something's..."

"...different. I know," Inuyasha interrupts, giving her a knowing look. Kagome didn't need for him to elaborate. She had felt it since he had woken up, but couldn't think of any way to describe the change. Apparently he was having the same difficulty.

"Well....we don't have anything to be...embarrassed about, really. It's not like anything...uh, happened...," she says, dropping her eyes for a brief moment before raising them again, but not looking at the boy, "...so why don't we just, uh...you know...ignore...those two..."

Kagome trails off, unable to say _nights_, waving her hand in the air and realizing that she forgot to put her bracelet on as she catches sight of her wrist. The girl frowns, leans down to slide on her other heel, then returns to her vanity to get the piece of jewelry, hoping to gain control of her flush. When she finally turns around, she finds the half-demon raising a brow at her.

"You sure?" he asks. Why did Inuyasha suddenly look...dejected?

Kagome finds herself nodding, but with a sigh. It wasn't like the two of them could simply avoid one another until they figured out how they actually felt about sleeping together. Twice. Sure, it had happened on the quest, but the others had always been there, and they had only rarely slept so _close_ to one another before. She could count the number of times on one hand...

The girl shakes her head, feeling her pinned up curls bounce softly against her cheeks and bare shoulders. She was almost eighteen; she should be able to handle something relatively simple like this by now. She didn't think twice when it happened at the mansion with Shippo one night. And he didn't either. With the kitsune, it was like sleeping next to Sota.

But contemplating lying so close to _Inuyasha_ sent her mind (among other things) spinning off in directions she wasn't comfortable thinking about just yet, especially since she was still trying to sort out how she felt about her broken heart, his near-death (or actual death, and return, technically), her visions/dreams and that danger, the minute, but very detectable change in their relationship, whatever it might be...

There was just too much for her to try to sort out right now. And by the boy's expression, he seemed to feel the same. Still, there was that earlier disheartened look...

"For now," Kagome finds herself saying, a smile coming onto her face at the surprise on Inuyasha's. "Let's not dwell on it...them... We both needed...a friend at the time, and that's all there was to it."

The hanyou simply stares for a few seconds, before a small grin spreads across his face, and he shrugs. "Right. 'S all there was to it."

The pair remains quiet for a moment, then Kagome nods to herself, takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment, then lets it out slowly.

"Something wrong?" the boy asks, standing. Now that he and Kagome were...well, close to normal again, he was going to do exactly as she said and pretend that things weren't any different between them. And that started with pointing out the obvious frowns the girl kept sending herself in the mirror.

"Not...really...," she answers, glancing to her reflection once more, then sighing. "Well... I just feel like something's missing... But I can't figure out what..."

Kagome glances up to find the boy staring at her, studiously. "Meet you downstairs," he says after a second, disappearing out her door.

The girl blinks, stupefied, but follows after the hanyou a moment later.

* * *

La la la.... :)


End file.
